‘I HAVE A DEATH SQUAD’ – DUTERTE

FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday admitted that he had maintained a death squad of gangsters to kill other criminals when he was the mayor of Davao City.

Duterte made the admission as he also confessed that during his time as president and as mayor of Davao, he had ordered police to “encourage” suspects of crimes to fight back and “draw their guns” so that the officers can justify the killings.

On the first hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, Duterte said police were not involved in the death squad.

“Ako, makulong sa makulong. I can make the confession now if you want. Talagang niyayari ko pero ‘wag mo naman idamay iyong pulis, kawawa naman,” Duterte said.

“Meron akong death squad pero hindi ‘yung mga police. Sila rin ‘yung mga gangster,” he further said.

“Iyong isang gangster, utusan ko, patayin mo ‘yan. Kasi kung hindi mo patayin ‘yan, patayin kita ngayon,”  he added.

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros asked the former president details about the death squad but Duterte said those involved were no longer around or maybe dead already.

Duterte also said he had forgotten the names of the death squad members.

“You know, when I was mayor, 43 years old, I am now 73. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name,” he said.

Duterte also said that the seven death squad members were not rewarded for killing people because they were already rich.

The former president said he would not offer apologies for the death of innocent victims.

“I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it or not, I did it for my country. I hate drugs, make no mistake about it,” Duterte said.

Ex-senator Leila de Lima, the most vocal critic of Duterte who was jailed  but was released after being cleared of all the criminal charges filed against her, was also present during the hearing.