FILE PHOTO: Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. PHOTO FROM BONG GO FACEBOOK PAGE
MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the hit on three Chinese nationals inside the Davao Penal and Prison Farm in August 2016, according to the hitman who is now in jail for the killings.
During the second hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad-committee on Thursday, Leopoldo Tan said he and Fernando Magdadaro were hired to kill Chu Kin Tung, Jackson Lee, and Peter Wang.
Tan and Magdadaro are currently detained at the Philippine Military Academy’s Support Company.
Tan claimed that Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) official Supt. Gerardo Padilla talked to a “person” over the phone after the alleged kill order was carried out, and the person even congratulated the jail officer.
Tan identified the person who congratulated Padilla as former president Duterte.
“While we were walking to the Investigation Section, Supt. Padilla’s phone rang. I saw that he pressed his cellphone. I heard the person who called Supt. Padilla say ‘Congrats Supt. Padilla, job well done. But what was done was brutal, they turned it into blood soup’,” Tan said, reading his sworn affidavit before the quad-committee.
READ: Fear, leadership issues prevented serious EJK probe – House lawmakers
“I knew that Supt. Padilla was talking to President Duterte because his voice is familiar. After the call, Supt. Padilla told his colleagues: ‘The President called, he congratulated me.’ Because of what Supt. Padilla said, I was even more convinced that it was President Duterte who called,” he added.
Tan said they were promised money — specifically P1 million each for him and Magdadaro for every Chinese national killed — and freedom. Tan and Magdadaro were already inmates when allegedly hired to kill the jailed foreigners.
Eventually, Tan said his wife and Magdadaro’s wife received the money, but it was only P2 million for each of them. However, they did not mind losing the other million, as they clung onto the promise that they would get freed eventually.
But Tan, upon the questioning of House committee on public order and safety chairperson and Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, said that he and Magdadaro decided to tell the truth because the promise of them getting freed was not granted.
“So that we can end this, the evil things that they have done […] that is (not freeing us) part of it, because what they said was they will talk to the President for our freedom,” Tan said.
“So in other words you are also mad, that’s why you’re doing this?” Fernandez asked.
“Yes,” Tan replied.
Other names
There were other names mentioned in Tan’s affidavit and testimony before the quad-committee, like a certain SPO4 Arthur Narsolis — his high school classmate, who supposedly relayed to him the orders to kill the Chinese nationals.
Tan also said that Narsolis approached him to say that he might be able to help Tan through a hit that got the blessings of high officials.
“What he said to me was that this hit has the blessings of high officials […] I believe he was referring to the previous administration,” Tan said in reply to Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel.
“You also said that Narsolis said that ‘you might be assisted for your freedom as we will talk to the President.’ Based on your understanding, who is the President that Narsolis is referring to?” Pimentel asked.
“It’s (former) president Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” Tan noted.
In one ocassion, Tan also said that former Lt. Col. Royina Garma, who eventually became general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), also visited the Davao Penal Farm.
INQUIRER.net has sought former president Duterte’s ex-officials – former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea and former presidential spokespersons Harry Roque and Salvador Panelo – for the former state leader’s side.
Roque has responded, noting that hearings in Congress have no probative value.
“Res inter alios acta […] No probative value,” he said.
Panelo meanwhile questioned why Duterte’s enemies are now using convicted felons to attack him.
READ: Duterte ‘enemies’ using convicts to do ‘demolition job’ – Panelo
Earlier, House quad-committee officials said the second hearing will focus on the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the Duterte administration.
At the start of the quad-committee hearing held at the Batasang Pambansa complex, , Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the panels will resume discussions “with a sharper focus and renewed determination.”
This is not the first time that a Duterte was named in the quad-committee hearings.
READ: ‘Don’t name Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio, Yang in 2018 shabu import mess’
During the first quad-committee hearing on Aug. 16, former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer Jimmy Guban claimed that undersecretary Benny Antiporda sent emissaries in 2018 to warn him that he will die if he tags Davao City 1st District Rep. Duterte, Atty. Manases Carpio – husband of incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte, and former economic adviser Michael Yang in the shipment of illegal drugs in 2018.
The former BOC official was referring to the 1-ton “shabu“ — a slang for crystal meth — worth P6.8 billion that were discovered concealed in magnetic lifters, which eluded authorities in 2018. The House and Senate investigated the matter and Guban appeared in the hearings – where he was cited for contempt.
Rep. Duterte and Antiporda have separately denied Guban’s accusations. According to Rep. Duterte, he has never met Guban, adding that the ex-BOC official cannot be treated as a star witness as he is not credible, having been cited for contempt for lying at the Senate blue ribbon committee.