Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s shocking testimony during the recent Senate investigation has confirmed what we knew all along: the existence of the Davao Death Squad – or Duterte’s death sentence for drug personalities and criminals.
During the televised investigation on October 28, the former president admitted that there was a death squad that targeted criminals when he was mayor of Davao City.
He emphasized that the seven-member death squad consists of gangsters and not police officers.
“If you want, I can make the confession now. I had a death squad of seven people, but they weren’t police officers, they were gangsters too. I’ll ask a gangster to kill someone. If you don’t kill (that person), I will kill you now,” Duterte said.
He also said he would take responsibility for the killings that took place during his presidency, from 2016 to 2022, but reiterated that he had never ordered his police chiefs to kill a criminal.
According to him, the killings were never sponsored by the state. “There has never been an official order for the police, military and government agents to kill,” Duterte said.
“Welcome you can’t do this. Ang sinabi ko that in fulfilling your duty ‘yung elements of self-defense will apply to you,’ he added.
Thousands of families who lost their loved ones during his infamous “war on drugs” have consistently cast the government as complicit. Many victims, they say, were unarmed and had already surrendered when they were shot. The common reason of ‘nanlaban’, or resisting arrest, became the signature justification for these deaths.
Duterte even admitted that police had been instructed to encourage suspects to fight back.
His brash attitude during the Senate hearing further reinforced his disregard for due process.
“My mandate as President of the Republic was to protect the country and the Filipino people. Don’t question my policies because I make no excuses, no excuses. I did what I had to do. Whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” Duterte said without showing any remorse.
While Duterte portrayed his actions as a necessity to protect the country, the consequences of his ruthless actions tell a different story. His brutal drug war left thousands of grieving families behind.
The Davao Death Squad represented the blurred lines between law enforcement and lawlessness.
Duterte’s bloody drug campaign was not a path to peace or change, as was the slogan of his election campaign, but a threat to society – a threat that eroded human rights, ignored the rule of law and fostered a culture of impunity.