Lascañas sees similarities in death squad killings, EJKs

MANILA, Philippines – Former SPO3 Arthur Lascañas, who claims to have been a hitman, on Monday said he saw some similarities between killings by the so-called Davao Death Squad and recent drug-related killings.

“May mga pagkakapareho po,” Lascañas said during the Senate hearing into his allegations that President Rodrigo Duterte formed and directed the DDS.

Asked by Sen. Risa Hontiveros how the DDS killings and the killings attributed by human rights groups to the government's war on drugs are similar, Lascañas pointed out that the killings were usually done by motorcycle-riding gunmen who shot their victims in the head. 

He also said the killings are similar in the use of packing tape to bind victims and the use of cardboard signs labelling them as criminals.

Lascañas also claimed that that during some of the supposed death squad's operations, they made it look like some of the victims fought back ("nanlaban") to justify the killings.

He said targets rarely fought back.

“Sa sampung operation, kung may isang nanlaban, siguro milagro na iyon,” Lascañas told the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs.

In a Senate hearing last year, Edgar Matobato, who also claims to have been a DDS hitman, alleged that it was standard for Davao police to plant guns on their targets to make it seem that they shot it out with police.

President Duterte last December said of suspects: "if they don’t have a gun, give them a gun."

Around 7,000 have died since the Duterte administration waged war against drugs in July 2016. The Philippine National Police also launched Oplan Tokhang, where authorities knock on drug suspects’ houses to convince them to surrender and undergo rehabilitation.

Lascañas said Oplan Tokhang was also imposed in Davao City around 2012 by then city police director Ronald Dela Rosa, the current PNP chief. The witness said the Davao City program is somewhat similar to the nationwide Oplan Tokhang.

Lascañas told Hontiveros that about ten percent of his victims were collateral damage and were not the real targets. Lascañas said he personally killed about 200 people while he was a member of the DDS.

The witness said that he personally knows some police officers who are still in active service and are current members of the DDS.

He named the following:

• Renante Medina

• Jovencio Jumawal

• Jun Ayao

• Rizalino Aquino

The hearing into the DDS has been suspended.