House leader calls for budget safeguards in light of reported ‘reward system’ for EJKs
A co-chair of the House of Representatives’ quad committee has voiced concerns about the likely misuse of confidential funds by the previous administration to pay cash rewards for extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the war on drugs.
Sta. Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, who chairs the House panel on public order and safety, maintained that the facts uncovered by the quad committee should serve as a “wake-up call for stronger safeguards and stricter controls over how confidential and intelligence funds and operational budgets are utilized.”
Fernandez’s committee is part of the quad committee, which is also made up of the committees on dangerous drugs, public accounts, and human rights. It is investigating the link between Philippine offshore gaming operators, EJKs, war on drugs, the narcotics trade, and other syndicated crimes.
Despite past Congresses allocating funds to support former President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, the lawmaker noted that there was no line item in the national budget that incentivized EJKs.
“No cash to kill. There is no line item budget for murder,” he stressed, adding, “Congress provided the necessary resources to fight the drug menace, not to fund a cash reward system that encouraged the killing of individuals without due process.”
Fernandez said, “Let it be clear: Congress provided billions of pesos in resources to combat the scourge of illegal drugs, but at no point did the national budget authorize funds for EJKs.”
‘Davao model’ of EJKs
Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager and retired police Colonel Royina Garma submitted sworn statements attesting to a reward system for drug war killings, patterned after a so-called “Davao model,” in the Duterte administration.
She claimed that under the “Davao model,” drug-related deaths fetched cash rewards from P20,000 to P1 million, depending on the target, and confirmed the existence of the Davao Death Squad or DDS. She also detailed the alleged roles of Duterte and his special assistant Bong Go in the reward system for the killings.
Garma’s affidavits were corroborated by retired police general and former National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, who was allegedly tasked by Duterte to enforce the “Davao model” nationwide.
Fernandez cited a previous hearing where House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep France Castro suggested that Duterte’s confidential funds, which ballooned to billions of pesos between 2017 and 2022, could have been used to finance the reward system for EJKs in the war on drugs.
“The funds Congress allocated were for the protection of Filipino citizens, not for the wholesale violation of their rights. There was no budget item that authorized law enforcement to act as judge, jury, and executioner,” he said. He pointed out that “the goal was to dismantle the drug trade, not to massacre suspected users or pushers, many of whom turned out to be innocent.”
According to Fernandez, Congress must exercise greater oversight in the future to ensure that appropriations are used as intended.
“There will be no room in future national budgets for this kind of abuse,” He vowed, adding, “We will make sure that any funds allocated for law enforcement are used solely for legal and transparent operations that respect human rights.”
