During the House of Representatives Quad-Committee hearing Thursday, two detainees testified that former President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly ordered the killings of three Chinese drug lords inside the maximum security facility of Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in August 2016.
PHOTO FROM House of Representatives of the Philippines’ Facebook page.
MANILA, Philippines — Why did inmates Leopoldo Tan and Fernando Magdadaro come out in the open to testify against former President Rodrigo Duterte and expose his alleged order to kill Chinese nationals in 2016? It’s simply because they felt betrayed, at least according to Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez.
In a virtual presser on Friday, Fernandez addressed former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s claims that “enemies” are now using convicted felons to carry out what he called a “demolition job” against Duterte.
Tan and Magdadaro are detained for killing three Chinese nationals inside the Davao Penal and Prison Farm. They were invited to the lower chamber’s quad-committee hearing on Thursday where they exposed Duterte’s alleged hit order.
READ: Duterte ordered killing of 3 Chinese men in 2016, hitman claims
For his part, Fernandez believes Tan and Magdadaro were motivated to speak up due to feeling “betrayed.”
Tan earlier said they were promised money — specifically P1 million each for him and Magdadaro for every Chinese national killed — and freedom.
“Ang nangyari, hindi sila tumupad doon sa pangako, binukulan pa siguro, imbes na tatlo milyong, ginawa lang dalawang milyon,” said Fernandez.
(What happened is that the promises to them were not fulfilled. Instead of P3 million, they were only given P2 million.)
“Ang feeling ng mga to, they were betrayed. At tapos nakita nila na tapos na yung administration Presidente Duterte, nakita nila na na andun pa sila, sila ang umako nung parusa na sinabi sa kanila na animin na nila. E kaya ang nangyari, siguro out of frustration saka galit, tapos nakita nila that we are investigating this issue, nagkaroon sila ng oportunidad,” he emphasized.
(These people felt like they were betrayed. And then they saw that the administration of President Duterte was over, they saw that they were still there, and they took the punishment that they were told to accept. Perhaps what happened was that they were frustrated and angry, and they saw that we were investigating this issue, so they found an opportunity.)
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who was leading the quad-committee’s hearings, said they thoroughly looked into what Tan and Magdadaro could contribute to the investigation.
Barbers even admitted that the quad-committee “was very surprised” upon knowing that they have such reports, leading the committee to allow the two to “give their own account” of the story.
In the same interview, when prodded about where they located the two witnesses, Barbers disclosed that they were introduced by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
“Well, ang lumapit sa atin ay ating director general sa PDEA at kanyang sinabi ay merong gustong mag-witness dito sa extrajudicial killings sa mga PDLs na nakulong at na-convict because of drugs during the previous administration. At itong mga witnesses nito ay involved daw dun sa extrajudicial killings during that period,” said Barbers.
(Well, the one who came to us was the PDEA director general, and he said that there were individuals who wanted to testify about the extrajudicial killings of PDLs who were imprisoned and convicted because of drugs during the previous administration. And these witnesses are said to have been involved in extrajudicial killings during that period.)
“[A]ng dalawang tumestigo kahapon, sila ho ay nasa minimum facility na, meaning they have already served a big fraction of their sentence at ito ay malapit nang lumabas. Wala naman po kung kaming nakitang … kaya binigyan po namin sila ng pagkakataon kasi wala wala naman silang hinihingi na kalayaan, nakita mo naman ang kanilang sinabi kahapon po, ano yung rason, ano nag-motivate sa kanila para magsalita, sa kanila po galing yun,” said Barbers.
(The two who testified yesterday are already in the minimum facility, meaning they have already served a big fraction of their sentence and they will soon come out of prison. We didn’t see anything… that’s why we gave them a chance because they didn’t ask for freedom, you saw what they said yesterday, what was the reason, what motivated them to speak, it came from them.)
Barbers pointed out that it was hard for the witnesses to tell the truth and speak against their interests because that would mean admitting their crimes.