
Today, former President Rodrigo Duterte made bombshell revelations at the Senate Blue Ribbon investigation into the controversial drug war conducted under his administration. Appearing for the first time in a public inquiry on the subject since leaving office, Duterte attempted to defend the campaign, addressing accusations of extrajudicial killings and a potential reward system incentivizing lethal action against alleged drug offenders. But every time he went off-script or was not reading out from a piece of paper, Duterte cannot help but admit that he was the person responsible for the extrajudicial killings and the drug war which rampaged during his presidency.
For the first time after his presidency, Duterte publicly appeared in an investigation involving his drug war. He appeared because it was his cohort now Senator Bato Dela Rosa, his chief implementor of the war on drugs, was the one who initiated the Senate investigation on the matter. From the beginning, everyone knew it was a farce investigation since Bato himself cannot appear and investigate himself. People knew that this was a defensive move from the Duterte camp to address the damning investigation that the House Quad Committee is conducting involving the same issue.
During his statement, Duterte maintained that his administration’s actions were a response to the country’s serious drug problem, which he argued required decisive measures. He denied the existence of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), the body responsible for summarily killing drug suspects in Davao City during Duterte’s time as mayor. His above statement was part of his script that he read from a piece of paper. When senators interpolated him, he always veered away from his prepared speech and contradicted his opening statement. This is where the public saw the kink in Duterte’s armor.
When hard pressed as to the issue of so many killings in Davao City during his time, Duterte cracked and admitted that he had his own death squad composed of police officers and civilian operatives. He confessed that there were thousands who died because of his death squad while he was still mayor. He stressed that he was not afraid of being put in jail for his actions.
Present at the hearing and seated at his right were Duterte’s former Chiefs of Police, including Senator Dela Rosa. He brazenly pointed to them that each of them that they are part of the death squad, and that all of them went through him. Dela Rosa was clearly in a state of shock because this was never his intention when he proposed the investigation. This investigation was meant to clean up their ranks and divert the EJK issues against him and Duterte. The former chief of police even denied the existence of the DDS and even stressed that if he were to catch one, he would file a case against that person. But it came from the Duterte himself that the DDS exists, and it was responsible for the thousands of killings in Davao, and even nationwide when Duterte assumed his presidency.
He said “I can make a confession now, if you want. Talagang nangyayari ito. Mayroon akong death squad, pero hindi ‘yang mga pulis”. Duterte’s admissions strengthens the findings of the ongoing investigation of the House Quad Committee on the EJKs during the former president’s time. Garma’s revelation of the Davao Template where the DDS framework was used to implement the war on drugs on a national scale is now reinforced by Duterte’s admission. Those who carried out the killings were not only police officers but vigilante civilians, in exchange for reward money. It also confirms the allegations made in the affidavit of Arturo Lascanas, a police officer and alleged member of the DDS who carried out the killings in Davao City while Duterte was still mayor, outlining the whole framework on the war on drugs and how it was escalated to a national level.
No matter how Duterte and Dela Rosa discounts their participation in the war on drugs or even attempt to defend themselves, their ghosts will continuously haunt them. This whole Senate investigation was a circus show to begin with when Bato Dela Rosa initiated it in an attempt to defend himself and his former boss. It turns out however that the whole thing blew up on their own faces, with Duterte telling it all. We guess nobody can escape the truth, and that truth came from the horse’s mouth.