10 senators vote to proceed with probe on Duterte’s DDS ‘ties’
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. SIMEON CELI JR./Presidential Photo
Ten senators voted in a caucus on Tuesday to proceed with a Senate probe on President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged involvement in the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), sources have said
The sources said the issue whether or not to proceed with the Senate probe came to a vote during the caucus when Senator Richard Gordon allegedly questioned the decision of the chamber to refer the allegations of the confessed DDS leader, former SPO3 Arthur Lascaña, against the President to the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Lascaña accused Duterte of paying DDS members to kill criminals in Davao City when he was still its mayors.
The 10 who voted to proceed with the Senate probe are the following:
1. Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon
2. Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan
3. Senator Leila de Lima
4. Senator Bam Aquino
5. Senator Risa Hontiveros
6. Senator Joel Villanueva
7. Senator Sonny Angara
8. Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto
9. Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV
10. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero
The first seven – Drilon, Pangilinan, De Lima, Aquino, Hontiveros, Villanueva and Angara – are part of the so-called supermajority bloc in the Senate while Recto, Escudero and Trillanes are with the minority group.
The sources said seven senators voted against the Senate probe, including Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
Aside from Pimentel, those who voted against the probe were Gordon, Senators Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Manny Pacquiao, Sherwin Gatchalian and Gringo Honasan.
Five abstained from voting and they are Lacson, Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senators JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda and Nancy Binay, the sources added.
READ MORE: WHAT WENT BEFORE: Davao Death Squad
Only senators Grace Poe and Alan Peter Cayetano were not present in the caucus.
But Poe, in an interview, already expressed her desire to proceed with the probe.
Cayetano, on the other hand, is a known ally of the President.
