MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes on Tuesday defended former SPO3 Arthur Lascañas, who claims to be a hitman for the so-called Davao Death Squad, from critics who questioned his credibility.
Trillanes, who also provides legal assistance to Lascañas, said the latter came out of the hearing with his credibility intact. He said that President Rodrigo Duterte and his son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, were not able to counter the former police officer's allegations.
“He (Lascañas) was able to enumerate detailed accounts of murder, EJKs (extrajudicial killings) and contract killings masterminded by no less than President Duterte himself and his son, Paolo,” Trillanes said in a statement.
“These serious accusations were never refuted point by point by the Dutertes since Lascañas first came out on February 20,” he added.
Lascañas on Monday faced the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, which, for six hours, mainly probed his knowledge of the DDS, the existence of which he had denied under oath last year.
He claims that the president, then mayor, and his son took part in killings in Davao City. Lascañas also said that Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, then Davao City police chief, was aware of the DDS operations but had no actual involvement in them.
Last October, Lascañas also testified before the Senate Committee on Human Rights and Justice. He denied the existence of the DDS then, but said in February that he had lied to protect his family from retaliation.
Trillanes said he considers Lascañas’ recent claims more credible.
“Truth and justice finally caught up with them. The time for reckoning is near,” he said of the Dutertes.
The younger Duterte, however, reacted to Lascañas’s claims and said Trillanes, who had been critical of the president even during the campaign period in 2016, was behind the testimony of the former police officer.
The Davao City vice mayor said that Trillanes is desperate to bring down his father and "would move heaven and earth just to pin us down in these made up accusations."
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo has also dismissed the allegations as a fabrication, saying it would be "out of character" for the president to order someone killed.
“He is outraged by any extrajudicial killing. Neither will he tolerate it. He abhors any violation of the Constitution or any law,” Panelo said Monday.
In previous speeches, Duterte denied involvement in extrajudicial killings and even called the practice "unmanly."