After 13 hearings, the Quad Committee of Congress recommended on December 18 the filing of criminal charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte and his cohorts for committing widespread extrajudicial killings under his administration’s bogus war on drugs. This case is similar to that filed by the families of drug war victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Additionally, the committee recommended filing separate criminal charges against those involved in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO).

The committee reported that one exposé in the hearings was Duterte’s reward system that funded his administration’s “drug war.” This system resulted in a culture of impunity that led to the extrajudicial killing of 12,000 to 30,000 suspected drug users. The hearing attendees also said this system followed the “Davao model” of then Davao mayor Duterte’s extrajudicial killings. Duterte himself admitted, in one instance when he attended the hearing, to have given rewards to police from the excess funds of drug war operations.