Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte dared rival Vice President Jejomar Binay to charge him in court if he has evidence linking him directly to extrajudicial killings in Davao City.
“If you have evidence against me, then file a case,” Duterte said during a campaign rally in Batangas on Thursday night, in response to Binay’s promise if he is elected president to go after and punish Duterte and his so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS) for extrajudicial killings.
READ: Binay vows to run after Duterte ‘death squad’ | It’s jail for Binay, says Duterte camp
The tough-talking mayor recounted that former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had already investigated his supposed role in extrajudicial killings but never filed a single case.
Duterte has been linked to extrajudicial killings including women and children, but the mayor repeatedly denied these allegations.
“I have never killed an innocent person,” he said in a rally Baliuag, Bulacan on Wenesday.
He said he has established a multi-million peso drug rehabilitation center in Davao City where drug dependents can voluntarily check themselves in.
“Bakit ko sila papatayin? Mas mabuti pa ipa-rehab na lang sila (Why would I kill them [women and children]? It’s better to rehabilitate them),” he said.
Duterte, however, has admitted it is true that he has killed criminals, citing one instance in his first term as mayor in which he personally shot dead three men who had kidnapped a teenager during an operation.
He has also repeatedly said his standing order to the police is not to hesitate shooting a criminal who violently resists arrest.
“Kung kayo ang mapatay, papatayin ko kayo (If you get killed, I will kill you),” he said, referring to the police.
Duterte and his running mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano are running under the platform of busting criminality, illegal drugs and corruption in government within the first six months after being elected in office. IDL