Citing no proof, Senate ends death squad inquiry
PHILIPPINE SENATORS abruptly ended a hearing on Monday into allegations by a retired policeman that a “death squad” operated under President Rodrigo R. Duterte when he was mayor of Davao City, citing no proof that it even existed.
Arturo B. Lascañas admitted to lying in October during another Senate inquiry into alleged extrajudicial killings by a hit squad linked to Mr. Duterte, but said he did so for his family’s safety and because police had warned him to “deny everything.”
He said on Monday he had personally killed 300 people, about 200 as a member of a “Davao death squad” of which Mr. Duterte had full knowledge.
But few fresh claims emerged in Monday’s proceedings and the senators, several of whom are Duterte loyalists, challenged his credibility and demanded proof.
“We don’t see any point of pursuing the investigation,” Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, head of the Senate panel, told reporters. “There’s no independent evidence other than what he had already testified on.”
Mr. Lascañas broke down when he told his story to reporters two weeks ago and is the second person to testify before lawmakers on Mr. Duterte’s alleged links to a clandestine hit squad.
The hearing was much anticipated after Mr. Lascañas had written in the final line of his sworn affidavit that his allegations were just “the tip of a bloody iceberg.”
But little more came during Monday’s inquiry. Mr. Lascañas cited one time when Mr. Duterte had personally instructed him to kill and said the death squad’s instructions were usually relayed by senior policemen, or Mr. Duterte’s bodyguard.
Mr. Lascañas said he shot dead nine of 11 arrested Chinese drug suspects on orders that came indirectly from Mr. Duterte.
He also alleged Mr. Duterte’s son and current Davao vice-mayor, Paolo Z. Duterte, had links to the drug trade.
The President’s allies say the testimony is part of a broader plot to discredit him. His chief lawyer, Salvador S.B. Panelo, said Mr. Duterte’s alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings was “a fabrication.”
Mr. Lascañas, in October last year, denied the death squad existed.
On Monday, he said he was tormented by what he had done and wanted the truth to set him free. He said he spoke out because of “the fear of God.”
“I wanted to clear my conscience,” he added.
Mr. Duterte denies ordering summary executions, either as president or during his 22 years as Davao mayor.
His top police commander, Ronald M. dela Rosa, a former Davao police chief, calls the death squad “fiction” created by the media.
Human rights groups documented about 1,400 suspicious killings in Davao while Mr. Duterte was mayor and critics say the war on drugs he unleashed as president has the same hallmarks. —