Palace backs PNP reopening of EJK probes

ICC lawyer: Gov't probe 'too little, too late'

-  ALEXIS ROMERO

Jorts our soldiers but also strengthens our national security and sovereignty. This also underscores our commitment to protect our territorial integrity," Rep. Zaldy Co, chairman of the House appropriations committee, said.

He said this will be an augmentation to the 2025 funding for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the country bolsters its military capabilities in defending against intrusions of China in the country's western seaboard.

This will "complete the airport expansion on Pag-asa Island, along with a shelter port in Lawak, Palawan," he said.

Malacañang yesterday expressed support for the Philippine National Police (PNP)'s plan to reinvestigate high-profile deaths tied to former president Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.

"Of course. The reopening of the investigations of the high-profile killings related to the war on drugs should indicate that the Marcos administration places the highest importance on the fair dispensation of justice and on the universal observance of the rule of law in the country," Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a text message.

Bersamin was asked whether the Palace backed the PNP's plan to reopen probes into the high-profile killings related to the previous administration's drug war, which left more than 6,000 people dead, based on official records.

When he was president, Duterte, who had described the Philippines as a "narco state," justified his brutal crackdown, saying it was necessary to save the next generation of Filipinos.

The former president had also directed law enforcers to shoot drug suspects dead if they felt that their lives were at risk and had vowed to take full responsibility for complaints against the campaign.

Earlier this week, PNP chief Gen.