Retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas on Monday admitted that he personally killed around 200 people when he was still with the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS).
“Sabihin na lang natin na 200 plus pero collectively sa estimate ko lang, personal ko lang estimate siguro mga 300 more or less,” Lascañas said during the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, responding to queries of Senator Grace Poe.
But when Poe pressed on the number of people he had personally killed, the confessed DDS leader pegged the number at 200.
“Kung sa DDS lang po, (it started in 1989), sabihin na lang natin na mga almost 200,” he said.
Poe then asked if he had a list of the people he had killed to which Lascañas answered in the negative.
“Sino yung unang pinatay nyo?” the lady senator asked again.
“Hindi ko na po matandaan, your honor,” Lascañas said.
The apparent failure of the memory of Lascañas came after highly detailed narration of the alleged bombings and killings ordered by then-Mayor-now-President Rodrigo Duterte.
When asked by Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan to elaborate about his kill list, the retired police officer explained that there were times that the DDS “players” were the ones, who killed as they only ‘supervised.
“Kasi hindi naman titira ang players kung walang police,” Lascañas added. CBB/rga