MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives’ “quad committee” has ordered the detention of a police officer for snubbing its ongoing probe.

The panel approved a motion on Thursday, September 12, citing Police Master Sergeant Arthur Narsolis in contempt and ordered his detention. The mega-panel, comprised of four various House committees, ordered Narsolis’ detention within the House premises. Narsolis will be detained until the probe is terminated or when the lawmakers lift his contempt order.

He was cited in contempt because he did not just fail to attend, but also failed to explain his absence in the hearings.

Narsolis is the most recent resource person of the mega-panel to be cited in contempt due to refusal to cooperate. During the August 28 hearing, the quad committee also cited in contempt and ordered the detention of Corrections Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla for doing the same in the probe. Padilla is the chief of the Davao prison, where the three Chinese drug lords were killed in 2016.

Both Narsolis and Padilla were implicated in the probe into the killings of Chu Kin Tung, alias Tony Lim; Li Lan Yan, alias Jackson Li; and Wong Meng Pin, alias Wang Ming Ping, who were detained at the maximum security facility of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte in 2016. Two persons deprived of liberty (PDL), Leopoldo Tan Jr. and Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro, said they were ordered to kill the three Chinese.

According to Tan’s affidavit, Narsolis is his high school classmate, who visited him in July 2016 at the Davao prison facility. The PDL alleged that it was Narsolis who gave them the kill order. Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s name was also mentioned in the allegations after Tan claimed that Duterte and Padilla had conversations in relation to the Chinese drug lords’ killings.

In last week’s hearing, Padilla alleged that retired police colonel Royina Garma threatened him, ordering him not to interfere in the alleged killing of the three Chinese drug lords in Davao. Garma is a retired cop who has close ties with Duterte. – Rappler.com