MANILA — Lawmakers will ask “educated questions” during the House Quad Committee hearings into the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, and illegal drugs, according to 1RIDER Party List Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez.

He issued the statement after former President Rodrigo Duterte expressed openness to attend the Quad Comm hearings, adding that he hopes lawmakers will ask him “educated questions”, if he gets invited.

“Good to know po siguro that when the time comes he’ll be attending. I would like to think educated naman ang questions ng ating kasama sa committee,” Gutierrez said in a press conference on Thursday.

He added that Duterte’s testimony before the quad comm would be “very important” once “proper linkages” between him and EJKs have been established by the mega-panel.

The former President was previously implicated in the August 2016 killing of three alleged Chinese drug lords inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm by its former warden and by a hired hitman. 

Duterte’s former spokespersons dismissed the allegations as "political attacks".

“It will be very important when the time is right… Although the name has been mentioned every now and then, if you see, parang malayo pa. Sa Quad… talagang hindi siya just because nabanggit ‘yung pangalan, isasangkot na kaagad. We try to establish the basis first. We expect to fully threshout ‘yung doon sa baba… I think we will still be threshing out the issues of the Davao template with Class 96 and 97 of the PNPA,” Gutierrez said.

The alleged “Davao template” is expected to be explored further in the resumption of Quad Comm hearing on Friday. 

Last September 27, former police officer Royina Garma confirmed before the Quad Comm that the so-called “Davao template” was discussed in a June 28, 2016 meeting in the DPWH building in Davao, between Duterte and cops belonging to her PNPA Class. 

ABANG LINGKOD Party List Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano said more than a month later, killings inside jails in Bicol, Leyte and Parañaque were reported.