Sen. Antonio trillanes listens to SPO3 Arturo Lascañas as he faces the media and admits the existence of the Davao Death Squad during a press conference at the Senate on Monday, February 20, 2017. Inquirer photo/Grig C. Montegrande
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV believes that retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas’ credibility remained intact despite doubts raised by some senators during Monday’s hearing at the Senate.
“After a six-hour grilling from senators, SPO3 Arthur Lascañas came out of the hearing with his credibility intact. He was able to enumerate detailed accounts of murder, EJKs (extrajudicial killings) and contract killings masterminded by no less than President Duterte himself and his son, Paolo,” Trillanes said in a statement on Tuesday.
“These serious accusations were never refuted point by point by the Dutertes since Lascañas first came out on Feb. 20. Truth and justice finally caught up with them. The time for reckoning is near,” the senator added.
It was Trillanes who facilitated Lascañas’ public confession last February 20 where the latter confirmed the existence of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS). The confessed assassin also accused President Rodrigo Duterte of allegedly paying the group to kill criminals and enemies when he was still mayor of Davao City.
BACKSTORY: Duterte paid us to kill, says ex-cop
Lascañas repeated his public confession during the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs Monday.
During the hearing, however, some senators questioned Lascañas’ motives in linking Duterte to the death squad, especially when he used his spiritual renewal in 2015 as one of the reasons why he turned against the President.
READ: Senators doubt credibility of Lascañas
The senators noted that even after his spiritual renewal, the retired cop had testified twice in the Senate with two different versions of his own story. First was in October 2016 where he denied the existence of DDS and on Monday where he claimed it was real.