Opposition solon draws parallels between DDS, drug war
The latest revelation of SPO3 Arturo Lascañas implicating President Rodrigo Duterte only made clearer the parallels between the Davao Death Squad (DDS) and the administration’s war on drugs, an opposition solon said Tuesday.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said Lascañas’ claim only corroborated the earlier revelation of self-confessed assassin Edgar Matobato that they led the vigilante squad DDS in summarily killing criminals and vocal critics of Duterte in Davao City when the latter was mayor.
READ: Davao cop says Duterte ordered killings, DDS real
“There are seriously disturbing parallels between the murderous activities of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) and the deadly campaign against the so-called drug menace,” Lagman said.
Lagman enumerated the following similarities between the drug war and the Davao Death Squad–unabated extrajudicial killings; monetary rewards to the killers; victims are mostly poor and petty suspected criminals; involvement of police and their vigilante cohorts; tolerance and complicity by the higher-ups; and impunity favoring the assassins.
READ:Lascanas allegation part of plot to unseat Duterte – Palace
“Both whistleblowers, Edgar Matobato and SPO3 Arthur Lascañas, have confessed that they were members of the DDS which summarily killed criminal suspects in Davao City and they were paid for the killings,” Lagman said.
Matobato has testified before the Senate and admitted to killing criminals upon the orders of Duterte, whom he also tagged with committing murder.
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Lagman said rights group Amnesty International has investigated rogue cops paying off vigilantes to kill suspected criminals.
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“These fingerprints of incriminating similarities are too obvious to ignore,” Lagman said.
On Monday, Lascañas, a former cop and Duterte’s former right hand man, flip-flopped from his testimony at the Senate and said the DDS is real, confessing that Duterte ordered to kill radio broadcaster Jun Pala in 2003 and that he killed his own two brothers out of blind loyalty. Pala was a vocal critic of Duterte. CDG/rga
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