Rodrigo Duterte, the former President of the Philippines, confirmed the existence of a personal ‘death squad’ of gangsters that he used during his time as a mayor.
Duterte appeared in a Senate inquiry into his “war on drugs” and the drug killings under his term, on Monday. This was his first public appearance since he stepped down from office in 2022.
Duterte confessed that he “had a death squad of seven, but they were not police, they were gangsters.”, as reported on by Reuters.
During the inquiry, Duterte said that he denied ordering police to kill suspects and said he never used national police in extrajudicial killings.
He also denied giving the death squad orders to kill defenseless suspects, but he did order them to “to encourage criminals to fight back, and when they fought back, kill them so my problems in the city will be solved.”.
“I’ll ask a gangster to kill somebody”, said Duterte, as reported on by ABC News. “If you will not kill (that person), I will kill you now.”.
“If I’m given another chance, I’ll wipe all of you”, Duterte said of drug dealers and criminals.
One of Duterte’s biggest critics, former Sen. Leila de Lima, was also present at the hearing. De Lima previously investigated the drug killings in Davao City and argued that people were too scared to stand up to Duterte.
“This man, the former mayor of Davao city and the former president of the Republic of the Philippines, for so long has evaded justice and accountability”, said de Lima. “We have not made him to account after all these years”, de Lima added, mentioning that witnesses can finally surface and prosecute Duterte and his associates.
Another critic who was present during the hearing, Father Flavie Villanueva, rolled out a scroll that beared the names of 312 victims whose families he supported. As The Guardian reports, Villanueva cited a previous quote said by Duterte when he was mayor; “If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are legitimate target of assassination”.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the current President of the Philippines, previously stated that he would not cooperate with the court, according to The Guardian. But with strained relations between the Marcos and Duterte families over the past few months, The Guardian notes that could change.
During Duterte’s tenure from 2016 – 2022, the Philippine government estimate the death toll of people killed by policemen and “unknown assailants” at 6,252, as mentioned by BBC. However, human rights organizations estimate that up to 12,000 – 30,000 people were gunned down during Duterte’s “war on drugs”. Most of those victims were young men in poor urban areas that were shot in the streets or in their homes.
Human rights groups also reported 1,400 killings in Davao City during Duterte’s 22 years as mayor, as mentioned by Reuters.
The extrajudicial killings and bloody crackdowns under Duterte have drawn international attention and condemnation, and has triggered an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
According to ABC News, Duterte is seeking a new term as mayor in Davao City next year. On Wednesday, Philippine police said that they would investigate the ‘death squad’ claims, according to Reuters.
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