President Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Update
President Rodrigo Duterte is opening himself up to a possible impeachment when he admitted killing drug suspects when he was mayor of Davao City, Senator Richard Gordon said on Wednesday.
But Gordon, who is part of the majority bloc in the Senate, noted that the President was prone to making “exaggerated” statements as described by his own people in the Cabinet.
If Duterte had indeed kill people, then he’s liable unless he did it to defend himself.
“Kung sinabi nya yun then siguro meron syang rason kung bakit nyang sinabi yun at kung mayroong magdedemanda sa kanya, dadaanin natin sa impeachment yun (If he really said that, then maybe he had a reason why he uttered those words and if somebody would want to sue him, we will have to conduct impeachment proceedings),” he told reporters at the Senate.
Gordon said the Office of the Ombudsman or anybody can investigate the President but he could only be removed through impeachment proceedings.
“When he says that, he’s opening himself up, di ba (isn’t it)? Sya ang nagsabi e (He said it). So [what’s the] legal way, e di mag impeach kayo, mag impeach kung sino man ang may gusto (so go ahead impeach him) because I’m sure he knows how to defend that,” the senator said.
Gordon said the President, who is also a lawyer, would not make the admission if he has no means to defend his acts.
When the President admitted killing drug suspects when he was mayor, the senator said, the next question should be the circumstances behind it.
“Hindi naman porke sinabi nyang nakapatay ng tao o e automatic magpa file ka, you have to investigate (You cannot automatically file a case simply because he uttered those words…),” the senator said.
Duterte talked about his record in Davao City in a speech during the Wallace Business Forum in Malacañang Monday night.
He said he was aware that one-third of the nearly 6,000 drug suspects slain in his war on drugs were killed in legitimate police operations because he “used to do it persnally” in Davao.
“I know it because—I am not trying to pull my own chair—in Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the [policemen] that if I can do it, why can’t you?” he said.
“I go around in Davao (on) a big bike and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble. I was really looking for an encounter to kill,” the President added. RAM/ ac