Minority solons chide admin: You believe Yasay but not Lascañas?

Retired Police officer SPO3 Arturo Lascanas. EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives chided the administration for dismissing the testimony of confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) leader retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas.

In a press conference at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said it is ironic the administration dismissed Lascañas’ claims because he recanted his earlier statements, when the administration itself has a history of recanting statements, too.

Alejano cited the case of Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., who lied under oath before the Committee on Appointments about owning an American passport. He later recanted his statement and said he had returned the passport.

READ: Yasay likened to Lascañas, Matobato | Yasay: I had an American passport but had it returned 

Similarly, Lascañas in the first Senate hearing denied the existence of the DDS. He later recanted his statements in Senate hearing on Monday and admitted killing 200 people allegedly under the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte when the latter was Davao City mayor.

“Pag si Yasay, nag-recant, acceptable. Pag si Lascañas nag-recant, hindi acceptable. Ganun ka-bias ang panigin ng administrasyon,” said Alejano, who said he believed in the credibility of Lascañas.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman added that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II would take the word of Bilibid convicts to build a case against Senator Leila De Lima for her alleged role in the Bilibid drug trade, yet the administration would do the same to someone like Lascañas who is not even a convict.

“When convicts serving sentence in the New Bilibid Prison make statements derogatory to Senator De Lima, the Department of Justice and prosecutors take these statements hook, line and sinker as truth. But when a person like Lascañas, who’s not even a convict, retracts his statement and tells the truth, his credibility is challenged,” Lagman said.

“Look at how the administration would accept the situations in their favor and reject the situations which are against it,” he added.

Alejano lamented that the public seemed resigned at the spate of extrajudicial killings, which if it exceeds the 20,000 mark could mean that the killings were state-sanctioned.

Duterte’s brutal narcotics crackdown has so far killed over 7,000 people.

“Ano po ang ating reaksyon? Tatahimik lang ba tayo?.. If we continue to deny that fact, yung 8,000 aabot na ng 20,000. If we continue to believe walang involvement ang gobyerno…” Alejano lamented. RAM/rga