Lascañas: 4 more hit men to testify

Four more Davao Death Squad (DDS) hit men want to come clean about their activities under Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas told the Inquirer in an interview on Thursday.

“Meron (Yes, there are),” Lascañas said, when asked if he’s aware of others who also want to come out, following his and fellow DDS member Edgar Matobato’s disclosures about the group’s operations against suspected criminals and others marked for liquidation by Mr. Duterte.

Lascañas confirmed that he “expected two” to go public; plus “two more” whose roles in the DDS  were similar to Matobato’s and that they all took orders from bosses.

The main bosses, according to Lascañas, were Jim Tan, whom he personally recruited because “Tan had connections to the ‘players’ or the hit men”; and Sonny Buenaventura, who provided the list of people to be “neutralized” as approved by Mr. Dutere.

Lascañas admitted he handled the planning of the operations.

Although Lascañas said he was unsure how his former DDS comrades would find their way to Manila, he pointed out that, “definitely, they have left Davao.”

One police officer, he added, is still in Davao but is “willing” to surface.

The reason, Lascañas said, is that the four want to tell everything they know. “Maybe they want to clear their conscience since they’re not getting any younger.”

Do the four fear that somebody wants them killed?

Lascañas said it was possible, “especially since I mentioned their names in my testimony,” although he was  hoping for the better.

“They will find a way to go public,” he said, adding that even if he himself had not received death threats, “I assume that there will be … They can easily do it.”

Lascañas has been granting interviews to national and international media following his testimony in the Senate on March 6, in which a number of senators cast doubt on his motive and credibility.

He looked relaxed and said he was “very normal, with God’s mercy,” after undergoing a successful kidney transplant.

Satisfied

He said he was satisfied with the Senate hearing. “Although I got a bit confused, maybe due to hunger, overall I think it was fair because I was allowed to speak in public about the contents of my testimony.”

Asked to clarify some issues that were raised at the hearing, Lascañas reiterated that he had no personal interest, for instance, on the day he was invited to join a meeting with Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chair Jose Corpuz.

“It was Baste (Sebastian Duterte, younger son of the President) who invited me to come and join the meeting,” he recalled.

Present at the meeting with Corpuz were Baste, his personal secretary, Lascañas, and a barangay captain in Davao City “who was also close to Mayor (Duterte).”

Lascañas recounted that the group had lunch, engaged in conversation, but he couldn’t say anything because he had no idea what they were talking about. “Even Baste was silent,” said Lascañas.

It turned out that the barangay captain was pitching for a project, asking Corpuz if it was possible not to go through the bidding process.

Corpuz said no, excused himself, but asked his son to stay with the group.

Corpuz’s son mentioned something about his dad being threatened by people who seek favors. Lascañas remembered the barangay captain saying, “We can also make threats. I joked, ‘Threat lang pala e.’”

Lascañas said he believed the barangay captain needed his presence just for show.

As for the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board franchise involving two other Davao barangay captains, Lascañas said he had nothing to do with it. “If it was me involved, where are the documents?”

Dance instructor

Regarding the dance instructor (DI) who was killed sometime between 2006 and 2008, Lascañas said it was Buenaventura who ordered the hit, “with  clearance from Superman (Mr. Duterte’s code name).

“Sonny said the DI was double-crossing Mayor’s sister Jocelyn, so we planned to abduct him. In fact it was Sonny who identified the DI. We picked him up somewhere in Jacinto near Ateneo de Davao, and brought him to Laud quarry where he was stabbed to death and buried,” he said.

“If there was another DI who was claiming it was him we were referring to, then we might have killed the wrong person. The best person to ask is Sonny. We just followed orders,” he said.

Buenaventura, he said, is currently employed at Davao City Hall.

On his admission that he lied during his first appearance in the Senate in October last year, Lascañas said  Buenaventura “asked me not to show up. But if I didn’t show up, the more I would get into trouble.”

Lascañas said that, later on, his relationship with Buenaventura turned sour.

“He was starting to have doubts about me. In January 2017,  I turned down my monthly allowance of P100,000 but he said Mayor might misinterpret it. I relented, but asked that I be excused from joining future operations. I wanted to retire.”