Dan Fernandez —HOUSE OFREPRESENTATIVES PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The focus of the House of Representatives quad committee’s next hearings may be selective due to time constraints brought by the election season, Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez said on Monday.

Fernandez, in an ambush interview, was asked about the next quad committee hearing, which was initially set to be held before Congress resumes its session.

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“We already had an initial report at the plenary, so we have accomplished a lot of things and we have filed bills that are being discussed now, so most likely that’s it because that is our role, craft laws from the results of our investigation.  So we will focus on that,” Fernandez said in Filipino.

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“With the quad comm there are still a lot of pending things though, I think the issue of Col. (Hector) Grijaldo who is detained here, right, so we need to discuss that as well.  Maybe we will be just selective with the quad comm topics because everyone is busy,” he added.

Grijaldo is the police colonel ordered detained by the quad committee last December 12, 2024, after he skipped the panels’ hearing for the fourth time claiming that he was nursing a shoulder injury.  Lawmakers agreed to cite Grijaldo for contempt after doctors claimed that the police official was ambulatory.

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Currently, Grijaldo is still detained inside the House premises.

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READ: Grijaldo now under House custody – Barbers 

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According to Fernandez, who heads the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, the four panels’ chairpersons would have a meeting to discuss the direction of the quad committee.

“We just returned to work now, we’ll be discussing that with the chairmen, actually I’m about to go there to discuss the issues about the quad comm […] (it’s a) self-scheduled meeting with them because we want to fix the schedule because I also have hearings with the (committee on) public order, like this one I had a hearing about a different issue.  So we might have a conflict with the quad comm so we need to iron out our schedules,” he added.

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As to the fate of the bills that the leaders and members of the quad committee filed, Fernandez said that some of the measures may be taken up during the 20th Congress, if the 19th Congress fails to tackle them.

The 19th Congress would adjourn its third and final session by June 13, after which, district and party-list representatives who would win in the 2025 elections would take office and form part of the 20th Congress.

“Eventually, if we will not finish that now, (within the) 19th Congress, we can still discuss that with the 20th Congress.  But they would have to refile that if it is not tackled now, as you have to consider that we only have three weeks before we go into a break again, I think, three weeks?  So, three weeks, then you would bring that to the committee, you would have debates, and after the plenary, you would bring it to the Senate,” he said.

“So, that’s our problem, once it arrives at the Senate, are they going to tackle it?  So, if that’s not the case, I think it would not make sense, right?  So, unless it is certified as urgent by the President (nothing would happen) but I doubt it, if we have three weeks left,” he added.

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The quad committee is composed of Fernandez’ public order and safety panel; the committee on dangerous drugs headed by Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers; the committee on public accounts led by Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano; and the committee on human rights headed by Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.

For four months, the four panels probed illegal activities linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), the illicit drug trade, and the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the past administration’s drug war.

READ: House OKs reso tasking panels to jointly probe Pogo, drugs, EJK issues 

Last December 18, Barbers sponsored the partial committee report of the quad committee, recommending the filing of crimes against humanity complaints against former president Rodrigo Duterte and his key allies for their role in the alleged EJKs.

READ: Quad comm seeks crimes against humanity raps vs Duterte, Bato, Bong Go 

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Barbers said the four panels are recommending charges against Duterte and the following individualstmt play, for violation of Republic Act No. 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity:

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