Palace: No truth to claim senators pressured to stop Duterte probe

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella. ALBERT ALCAIN/ Presidential Photo

Malacañang denied Thursday that it pressured senators who met with President Rodrigo Duterte last Tuesday night to stop the Senate probe on the alleged paid death squad to kill suspected criminals upon the orders of then Davao City Mayor Duterte.

“There is no truth to the allegation of Senator [Leila] De Lima that the senators were pressured by Malacañang with regards to the reopening of the investigation on the DDS (Davao Death Squad),” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a Palace briefing.

READ: Palace ‘in panic mode’ after Senate votes to probe Duterte—De Lima

Abella, however, confirmed that some senators met with President Duterte in Malacañang last Tuesday night.

Majority Leader Sen. Vicente Sotto III earlier confirmed that he and his colleagues met with the President on the same day the Senate agreed to hear the allegations of retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas.

“As Senator [Vicente] Sotto said, the group of senators met with the President but they did not talk about the case of the retired police officer Lascañas,” Abella said.

The Palace official, however, declined to detail the agenda of the senators’ meeting with the President.

Duterte has not reacted on the fresh tirades against him, but he has denied such accusations in the past. RAM