Senators Pia Cayetano and Koko Pimentel. ABS-CBN News composite/File

MANILA (UPDATED) — The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will call a hearing on the war on drugs, its chairman, Senator Pia Cayetano, said Monday.

According to Cayetano, the decision was made after a discussion with Senate President Francis Escudero. 

She also noted that the issue of illegal drugs deserves attention from the committee.

“The issue of illegal drugs and the efforts of the past and present administration to curb its proliferation is a matter of great importance to our people, especially among families who have been victims of the evils it has caused. In this regard, the Blue Ribbon Committee will give it the attention it deserves,” she said.

Cayetano said the hearing will be presided by Senate Committee on Justice chairman Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, since she is currently attending a summit for the Committee on Energy.

Pimentel, a former member of the Duterte-led party that used to be called PDP-Laban, was Senate president from July 2016 to 2018.

Cayetano ran for and won a Senate seat in 2019 under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago administration coalition.

Escudero earlier said the Senate will launch its own drug war probe “as early as next week or before Congress resumes its sessions in November”.

Escudero eyes launch of Senate drug war probe next week, likely under Cayetano-led panel

The move for the Senate to conduct its own drug war probe was floated following several exposés from the House Quad Committee accusing former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Bong Go, and Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa of incentivizing drug war killings — which the two senators denied. 

Bong Go defends Duterte after Garma exposé but distances self from drug war

While "official" government data said 6,181 people were killed in Duterte administration’s war on drugs, several rights group believed up to 30,000 may have been killed, some innocent victims, and that corruption was allegedly rife among security forces that acted with impunity.