A cop who was earlier tagged by a Senate resource person as the team leader of the Davao Death Squad admitted Mon the existence of the group, saying former mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the killings.
SPO3 Arthur Lascañas said he was paid PHP20,00 to PHP100,000 for every killing carried out by the group.
“Kadalasan PHP20,000, minsan PHP50,000 depende sa status ng target…PHP100,000,” he said.
(Often PHP20,000, sometimes PHP50,000, depends on the status of the target… PHP100,000)
“Ito po ang umpisa, sa lahat ng ginagawa naming pagpatay sa Davao City, ilibing man o itapon sa laot, ito po ay binabayaran kami ni Mayor Rody Duterte,” he said.
(This was the start of the killings we did in Davao City. Whether we bury them or throw them in the sea, we were paid by Mayor Roday Duterte)
He said the group got his name after a drug raid in the house of a certain Allan Tancho where they killed Tancho’s maid.
He said the DDS left a note that said: “Wag pamarisan (Do not imitate)- Davao Death Squad.”
Lascañas claimed Duterte ordered the bombing of a mosque in Camamara Wa-An Davao City.
FLAG presents SPO3 Arturo Lascanas who is supposed to be in the DDS “inner circle” pic.twitter.com/tlSrWVe2Wl
— Adrian Ayalin (@adrianayalin) February 20, 2017
Lascañas is the second person to talk about the existence of the Davao Death Squad. The DDS is widely believed as being behind the killings of a number of people in Davao City.
Witness and self-confessed hit man Edgar Matobato earlier claimed they killed people on Duterte’s orders, including Jun Pala, a broadcaster and critic of the then mayor of Davao City.
He also said the DDS was responsible for the bombing of a Muslim mosque after the Davao Cathedral was bombed in 1993.
Duterte has denied any involvement in the DDS, saying it was used as an opposition tool to try to derail his presidential bid.
This story first appeared on ABS-CBN News Online and is republished with permission.
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