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Now 79 years old, former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte endured almost eight hours of grilling before the Senate public hearing on alleged summary killings during his administration’s all-out war against illegal drugs.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

To the reported extrajudicial killings (EJKs) related to the bloody anti-drug war, FPRRD got his wish granted to be tried here in the Philippines, albeit before the court of public opinion through televised hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee on drug war-related EJKs.

Fondly referred to now by loyal allies as FPRRD, the erstwhile Davao City mayor did not disappoint the expectation of his usual rebrand public speaking. Although currently aided by a cane, FPRRD entered the proverbial lion’s den where known political foes were already seated, waiting for him to enter and join them at the Senate hearing last Monday.

Already seated at the Senate hearing to his left were ex-senator Leila de Lima and Free Legal Aid Group lawyer Chel Diokno. The Senate Blue Ribbon secretariat made the seating arrangement where De Lima was just a seat away from FPRRD. In between them was his former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief, retired Gen. Aaron Aquino.

FPRRD was not without his own allies, who accompanied him at the Senate. His former chief presidential counsel Salvador Panelo, ex-Anti-Graft and Corruption Commission head Greco Belgica were seated beside him. He also had his own Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Christopher “Bong” Go and Robinhood Padilla setting the tone of the public hearing with their respective opening statements.

Except for Padilla, Dela Rosa and Go were also implicated in the drug war-EJK cases of the House quad committee, which started last August its own legislative inquiry on the same cases.