Gov’t has witness against Davao Death Squad – de Lima

THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is already doing a case build-up on the Davao Death Squad after a witness has come forward, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Monday.

De Lima said the case build up was based on the testimony of a witness whom the government has already admitted to its Witness Protection Program (WPP).

“The NBI is already doing a case build-up on the Davao Death Squad on the basis of what was disclosed by this witness,” de Lima told reporters.

“Just like the [other] witnesses, the confessed hitman in that Tagum Death Squad, this witness pertaining to the Davao Death Squad has been covered under the WPP and therefore I cannot be disclosing details yet,” she added.

When asked if the witness mentioned Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, de Lima declined to comment.

De Lima said the case build-up on the DDS started almost simultaneously when the NBI filed with the DOJ multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against former Tagum City Mayor Rey “Chiong” Uy and 29 others, including retired and current police officers, former local officials and alleged hitmen in the so-called Tagum Death Squad for 82 extrajudicial killings and two murder attempts in the city; the town of Dujali, Davao del Norte; Maco and Wahab in Compostela Valley and Butuan City.

Duterte in an interview on the local television program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” on Sunday admitted his link to the DDS.

“They say I am the death squad? True, that is true,” Duterte said in the television interview.

Duterte, who is currently tied with Department of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in opinion surveys, even warned that the number of dead crime suspects would shoot up to 100, 000 if he is elected president. AC