Trillanes: 9 witnesses not questioned in Senate probe

MANILA, Philippines — There were nine more witnesses set to testify at the public hearing of the Senate justice panel's inquiry into extrajudicial killings, but the committee chose to end the inquiry too soon, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said.

Trillanes said on Friday that the witnesses from the Commission on Human Rights were not questioned at the hearing looking into Duterte administration's role in the spate of killings since its start in July.

"He cut it short, precisely. He did not even interview or questioned nine CHR witnesses," Trillanes said in an interview with ANC, referring to panel chair Sen. Richard Gordon.

Gordon this week submitted a 120-page committee report which says there is no evidence of a state-sponsored policy to commit killings to eradicate illegal drugs in the country. The panel also denied proof of the existence of a Davao Death Squad allegedly run by Duterte when he was city mayor.

READ: No state-sanctioned EJK – Senate report

Trillanes, however, said Gordon cut the hearing short to avoid putting Duterte and his allies in a bad light.

"That's a proof, one of many, that he is just a lackey of President Duterte," Trillanes said.

Trillanes said it is a duty of senators to expose anomalies in government.

Gordon, meanwhile, said senators can choose to file an impeachment case against Duterte if they think he is ordering the deaths of thousands in his drug war.

While Duterte denies his direct involvement in the recent killings, human rights advocates point to his rhetoric in speeches which seem to encourage security personnel to gun down suspected drug suspects.

Drug policy experts have said that aggressive, police-led anti-narcotics policies have proven to stir violence and killings. The policies fail to lower the supply of illegal drugs in countries that have implemented them.