Confronted publicly for the first time by two of his fiercest critics, former senators Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV, former president Rodrigo Duterte gestured as if to hit them in separate occasions on Wednesday at the 11^th hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad committee. 

It was Trillanes who appeared to enrage Duterte more. The former president took hold of a microphone at their table and acted as if to throw it at Trillanes, but he was restrained by his lawyers. Trillanes had sought to have him sign a waiver allowing an examination of his bank accounts that the ex-senator alleged to contain huge amounts in bribes from drug lords. 

The tense situation caused a minutes-long suspension of the hearing. When it resumed, Duterte immediately said he was sorry for his “unbecoming behavior.”

Finally making an appearance at the House after repeated invitations, Duterte sat through more than 14 hours of questioning by the members of the special panel that is looking into the illegal drug trade and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during his brutal “war on drugs” and the Philippine offshore gambling operators.

He reiterated his claim of full responsibility for the killings; said the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he is accused of crimes against humanity, could come “tomorrow” and investigate him before he dies; and admitted to using hyperbole in admitting to killing “criminals” and other lowlife in public statements and at an earlier hearing of the Senate.  

Lawyers in tow

The quad committee’s hearing was to have taken place on Nov. 21 but the co-chairs decided to hold it on Wednesday after Duterte expressed his intention to travel from his base in Davao City and show up at the House. 

The former president had previously shunned the inquiry in which witnesses have accused him of, among others, being behind the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS) when he was Davao City mayor and ordering the replication of the “Davao model” in fighting illegal drugs on a national scale as well as a reward system for the killing of drug personalities. 

He arrived with three lawyers in tow—his former spokesman and chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo, his former labor secretary Silvestre Bello III, and Martin Delgra, former chair of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board. His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, came late in the afternoon. His ally, former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was also in attendance.

Before the interpellation, the lead committee chair, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert “Ace” Barbers, told Duterte that he would be accorded respect and time to air his side. A co-chair, Manila Rep. Benny Abante, said they would be “respectful but not deferential.” Another co-chair, Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, warned Duterte that “this is not a place for shallow tactics.”

Still, the committee chairs had to occasionally tell Duterte to mind his language and his temper.

‘Lambada Boys’

The former president was initially irritated at Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas’ interpellation, telling her that she should not question him in that manner because she “is not an investigator.” He also expressed annoyance at De Lima’s observations on the interpellations of Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro and 1-Rider Partylist Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez.

Regarding Luistro’s request that Duterte name the seven civilian members of the DDS—a request that he declined, saying it may endanger their families—De Lima recalled that confessed DDS hitman Edgar Matobato had once testified being a member of the “Lambada Boys—the civilian component of the DDS.” She named the other six members identified by Matobato, and wondered if this was the civilian death squad that Duterte had said he maintained when he was Davao City mayor.

Duterte made this testimony last week at the inquiry of a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee into the EJKs. 

Taking up Duterte’s reiteration that he was taking legal and moral responsibility for his antidrug policy, De Lima said policemen who had killed drug suspects should not have believed they would be absolved of the crime. “They are wrong to believe this even if [Duterte] said this a thousand times,” she said. “Those who followed the kill order cannot be able to get away with it.”

De Lima also took note of Gutierrez’s question on how the former president could reconcile his claim that he was taking full responsibility for the war on drugs with his other claim that a policeman who killed a drug suspect had personal guilt. She said Duterte had repeatedly insisted that it was the killer who was personally guilty of the killing.

“But let us not forget what Luistro said: If there is such a thing as personal guilt, there is also a principle of conspiracy, because definitely the former mayor is the principal by inducement because he ordered, solicited and induced the killings,” De Lima said, adding:

“The act of the gunman is also the act of the one who ordered him [to pull the trigger], the principal by inducement.”

In her interpellation of Duterte, Luistro said: “Going back to your statement that you’re taking full responsibility for all victims of the war on drugs, both legal and illegal, it is my humble submission … that the former president can be held liable for all these crimes under the conspiracy theory by being a principal by inducement … that without the order, without the reward, these police operatives would not have resorted to killing a huge number of victims.”

Duterte, a former prosecutor, disagreed with Luistro, and told her that a policeman is supposed to do his duty and is under a presumption of regularity for his action.

‘He’s lying’

De Lima took issue with Duterte’s remark to Luistro that he does not know her. She reminded him that he appeared at the first hearing of the Commission on Human Rights chaired by herself when it was looking into the killing of drug suspects in Davao City.

“[Duterte] is lying,” De Lima said, adding that he had insulted her many times and even told her she would rot in jail.

De Lima was detained in Camp Crame for six years on drug charges based on the testimonies of drug felons that were later recanted. She was allowed to post bail only in 2023 and the last of the three cases filed against her was thrown out by the court earlier this year. 

She said that even during his first State of the Nation Address as president, Duterte approached her in Congress and shook hands with her. “The former mayor and president knows me very well, so he is lying,” she said.

Duterte responded lightly that De Lima’s hair is now different, and then, looking at her, made as if to hit her with his fist. They were seated side by side during the hearing.

Bank accounts

But the ex-president lost his cool when Trillanes testified, on questioning by Deputy Majority Leader Jose Teves Jr., on the alleged bank accounts of Duterte and his children containing P2.4 billion supposedly deposited from 2011 to 2013 by drug lords.

The former senator claimed that the war on drugs was fake and that Duterte had used it to scare the nation and cover up his supposed drug syndicate, as testified by confessed hitman Arturo Lascanas at the ICC. 

Trillanes said he had taken a second look at the bank accounts that he disclosed in 2016 and alleged as belonging to Duterte. 

At that time, Trillanes called on Duterte to execute a waiver on the bank accounts. He said that while Duterte had promised to do so, it was Panelo who showed up at the bank branch with a special power of attorney but with specific conditions.

Trillanes said the bank accounts contained deposits from a group of drug lords and that his slide presentation would show the “paper trail of the drug proceeds to Duterte and his family.” He said the bank accounts contained P2.4 billion but that the actual total would be known if these were opened.

“The mistake of Duterte is that he made a joint account with Sara [Duterte, the Vice President],” Trillanes said, adding that there were transactions also made with Duterte’s two sons and the former president’s partner, Honeylet Avancena.

The former senator presented manager’s checks from the original account of one of the drug lords that Lascanas mentioned as Sammy Uy, who allegedly gave “dividends” to the Duterte family every April and October. 

Trillanes said banks have the physical and soft copies of the checks and that these cannot be denied. “This is the smoking gun … the proceeds of the illegal drug trade of the Duterte crime family,” he said. 

According to Trillanes, the manager’s checks can be used should an impeachment case be filed against Vice President Duterte in the House. 

“We concluded that the war on drugs is fake and this was done to protect his syndicate that includes Sammy Uy and Charlie Tan,” Trillanes also said.

‘I’ll hang myself’

On questioning, Duterte said Trillanes’ claims constituted a “serious accusation.”

Paduano then asked Duterte if he would sign a bank waiver, and he said he would do so “tomorrow.”

“If there is an iota of truth [in this], will hang myself in your presence,” Duterte said. He repeated the claim later: “I will hang myself. In the same manner, if I hang myself, Trillanes should also do so.”

Trillanes said the list of the bank accounts was given to him by one Joseph de Mesa in 2016 and that this was validated by the Anti-Money Laundering Council in an investigation conducted by Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang in the same year. He said Carandang was removed by Duterte because of the investigation.

When asked by a lawmaker if he was willing to draft a waiver and sign it, Duterte shot back that he would “slap [Trillanes] in public” in exchange. He then grabbed his microphone and moved to hit Trillanes with it, but his lawyers prevented him from doing so. 

Committee members then suspended the hearing and called for the observance of proper decorum.

When the hearing resumed, Duterte quickly said: “I would like to apologize for the unbecoming behavior …”

The committee members thanked the ex-president for his apology. They also moved to strike from the record the word “slap” that he used earlier.

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