De Lima: ‘Truth’ on killings will soon come out

Senator Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Detained Senator Leila de Lima on Saturday said that it is now just a matter of time before “the truth” in connection with the spate of killings in the country comes out amid reports from local and international media.

“It is just a matter of time before all of the truth comes out in all its horrifying detail, of how a President took hold of a nation’s consciousness to promote social cleansing as a final solution to the nation’s problems, the same way Hitler hypnotized the German people,” De Lima wrote from her detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Quezon City just days after Reuters, citing police officers, reported that cops, not vigilantes, are behind the proliferation of slays since President Rodrigo Duterte took office last year.

“As the truth gradually comes out, let us learn from history and know that final solutions that consist of state-sponsored murders in massive scale, even if not in Holocaust proportions, can only lead to the destruction of a nation’s social, moral, and cultural fabric,” she added.

A special report of Reuters quoted a retired intelligence officer and an active senior commander of the Philippine National Police as saying that cops had received cash payments for executing drugs suspects.

The report also mentioned  a 26-page report, titled “The State-Sponsored Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines” dated January 26, 2017, detailing how extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country are carried out and funded.

READ: Police paid to kill drug suspects, plant evidence—Reuters report

A similar report by the Amnesty International was released in February, which “details how the police have systematically targeted mostly poor and defenseless people across the country while planting ‘evidence,’ recruiting deaths squads, stealing from the people they kill and fabricating official incident reports,” in the name of Duterte’s war on drugs.

READ: AI: ‘Very top of government’ responsible for killings in PH

“With DDS insider testimonies coming from former DDS members Arturo Lascañas and Edgar Matobato, as well as confirmation coming from PNP officials, there ought to be no longer any doubt that there exists an international criminal case for crimes against humanity against the President, his PNP Chief and commanders, and high ranking cabinet officials and congressional allies,” said De Lima, who is detained on drug charges.

Matobato and Lascañas both testified in the Senate and claimed that they were part of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), whose members were allegedly paid by then Davao City Mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte to kill criminals and enemies.

“Now that evidence of this continues to surface, we must ask ourselves if we want to go on supporting the carnage,” De Lima said.

‘Brave, honorable men’

She also lauded “brave and honorable” cops for testifying that the government is to blame for the extrajudicial killings in the country.

“I salute the brave and honorable men and women of the PNP for giving testimonial proof that the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) are indeed state-sponsored and carried out upon direct orders of the President,” she said.

De Lima has been critical of Duterte when she was chair of the Commission on Human Rights, probing him for his alleged ties to the DDS.

The former Justice secretary warned that history will soon catch up on those who violated human rights.

“Human rights is universal. It is not a fashion statement. Sooner or later, the judgment of history of how we treated our fellow human beings, whether we fought for them or cheered on their slaughterers, will catch up with us,” De Lima said.

“When that time comes, we must make sure we are standing on the side of justice,” she added.