10 senators vote to proceed with probe on Duterte’s DDS ‘ties’

By: Maila Ager - 8 years ago

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte orders the police officers facing administrative charges to be detailed in Basilan for two years as they were presented to the President at Malacañang on February 7, 2017. The President gave the erring police officers 15 days to decide whether to resign or accept their re-assignment in Basilan. SIMEON CELI JR./Presidential Photo

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. SIMEON CELI JR./Presidential Photo

Ten senators voted in a caucus on Tuesday to proceed with a Senate probe on President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged involvement in the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), sources have said

The sources said the issue whether or not to proceed with the Senate probe came to a vote during the caucus when Senator Richard Gordon allegedly questioned the decision of the chamber to refer the allegations of the confessed DDS leader, former SPO3 Arthur Lascaña, against the President to the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Lascaña accused Duterte of paying DDS members to kill criminals in Davao City when he was still its mayors.

The 10 who voted to proceed with the Senate probe are the following:

1. Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon
2. Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan
3. Senator Leila de Lima
4. Senator Bam Aquino
5. Senator Risa Hontiveros
6. Senator Joel Villanueva
7. Senator Sonny Angara
8. Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto
9. Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV
10. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero

The first seven – Drilon, Pangilinan, De Lima, Aquino, Hontiveros, Villanueva and Angara – are part of the so-called supermajority bloc in the Senate while Recto, Escudero and Trillanes are with the minority group.

The sources said seven senators voted against the Senate probe, including Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

Aside from Pimentel, those who voted against the probe were Gordon, Senators Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Manny Pacquiao, Sherwin Gatchalian and Gringo Honasan.

Five abstained from voting and they are Lacson, Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senators JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda and Nancy Binay, the sources added.

Only senators Grace Poe and Alan Peter Cayetano were not present in the caucus.

But Poe, in an interview, already expressed her desire to proceed with the probe.

Cayetano, on the other hand, is a known ally of the President.