Members of the House of Representatives Quad Committee will temporarily vacate their chairmanships amid allegations of Former Mandaluyong City Police Chief Col Hector Grijaldo that they pressured him to confirm the drug war reward system.
Representative Dan Fernandez said he and co-chair Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. are to temporarily relieve themselves from their positions as chairmen of the two panels in the Quad Committee.
“We will be trying to relief temporarily our chairmanship in order to discuss this in a transparent, impartial and honest investigation on this matter,” Fernandez said.
It was revealed in the Senate investigation that Fernandez, Abante, and lawyers of former PCSO General Manager Royina Garma pressured Grijaldo to substantiate claims that there was indeed a reward system in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Fernandez emphasized that their move was to spare the integrity of the Quad Committee from the nasty comments hurled at them in their efforts to bear out the truth.
Fernandez heads the Committee on Public Order and Safety, while Abante heads the Committee on Human Rights.
Abner is an award-winning journalist. He received the prestigious 2015 Titus Brandsma Award for Community Communication in the Philippines and participated in the 2016 International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the United States of America, sponsored by the US Embassy in the Philippines. Founder of WATCH NORTH COTABATO, a media-citizens’ transparency group. He worked as a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and CNN Philippines. His experience in broadcasting includes anchoring for Brigada News FM in Kidapawan and General Santos City and Brigada News TV. He anchors Tira Brigada via 105.1 Brigada News FM Manila, Mondays-Saturdays.