Duterte admits giving kill orders, confirms death squad existence
MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte admitted that there is a death squad in his bailiwick, Davao at the Senate probe into the war on drugs on Monday, October 28.
Asked by opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros to confirm if he had a death squad, Duterte responded “you are correct, ma’am.” However, he said the death squad is not composed of police officials.
Duterte appears insistent that he is the sole person to blame for the war on drugs.
The death squad had an organized structure, according to Duterte.
Asked to confirm if there were seven people in the death squad, Duterte did not answer directly and said they might all be dead.
The former president, also a longtime mayor in Davao City, said he could not name names, saying he is too old to remember.
He also claimed the alleged death squad did not have any rewards, contrary to former PCSO general manager and CIDG officer Royina Garma's claim that there is a reward system, incentivizing cops for killing drug suspects.
Last week, former police colonel Edilberto Leonardo corroborated Garma's claim at the House Quad Committee Hearing that there is an existing rewards system that was implemented on a national scale.
At the Monday hearing, Duterte, however, claimed that members of the death squad were rich civilians who wanted to kill criminals.
Earlier in the hearing, Duterte also said that he encouraged police to egg on suspects so that they would fight back— giving police an excuse to shoot them down.
Provocation, kill order
Hontiveros underscored the foul impression that such an order was, to which Duterte said that it was her point of view.
He also admitted that he tried to instruct police generals to kill someone, but they refused, saying that it was better to imprison the suspects instead.
“I tried. Ako mismo, I tried,” Duterte said.
The former president appears to have returned to his previous ways of making strong statements about illegal drugs and criminality being serious issues for the nation. At one point, he referred to the Philippine National Police chiefs present at the hearing as heads of their death squads. However, he clarified that this was a loose term being used.
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