Justice Minister Jesus Crispin Remulla stated that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun an investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte following his statements at the QuadComm hearing in the House of Representatives.
"Yes, our task force is doing that. I just spoke with the head of the task force," Remulla said during an impromptu interview when asked if the DOJ was investigating Duterte.
Remulla was referring to a task force composed of prosecutors and agents from the National Bureau of Investigation, aimed at investigating extrajudicial killings related to Duterte's drug war.
At last week's QuadComm hearing, Duterte claimed that he had killed at least six people during his tenure as mayor of Davao City.
The former president also claimed that he had killed many corrupt police officers.
When asked if the DOJ would investigate the alleged acts during Duterte's tenure as mayor, Remulla indicated that their investigation might overlap with that of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is attempting to investigate Duterte's drug war and the killings by the Davao Death Squad during his time as mayor of Davao City.
"We must choose our strategies later. If there is an overlap with the ICC, we will choose our strategies," Remulla said.
According to Remulla, he hopes that the charges proposed to the ICC and those brought in Philippine courts will differ.
"We hope these charges are separate from each other. If possible, the charges we bring here and those of the International Criminal Court will not overlap. Even though we are not members of the ICC, the principle of complementarity still applies," he said.
He mentioned that they are also studying the applicability of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). "IHL is the law being studied by the International Criminal Court and is also our law here. It is actually the law of the International Criminal Court. This is the law they are now using," he said.
When asked for comment, Duterte's former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo stated that if the government has evidence, it should file a lawsuit.
"They are just endlessly propagandizing against him to tarnish his reputation," Panelo said in a statement.
According to government records, about 6,200 drug suspects were killed during Duterte's drug operations. However, human rights organizations say that due to unreported related killings, this number could reach 30,000.
