HEADLINE-DU30’S EJK | VP Sara Duterte denies involvement in Tokhang, death squad
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MANILA, Philippines — Accused of involvement in extrajudicial killings by a former police officer, Vice President Sara Duterte has dared her accuser to sue her as she denied the allegation, which she branded as part of a “script” prepared by her political enemies.
“According to this self-proclaimed witness, I was involved in the Oplan Tokhang of the Davao Death Squad and the several incidents of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in Davao. This script is new,” Duterte said, referring to police officer Arturo Lascañas, in a video statement posted on her Facebook account yesterday.
“In those years that I served as vice mayor and mayor of Davao City, my name was never linked to such issue,” she pointed out.
Memento Maxima Digital MarketingOn Wednesday, in a remote video interview with the media from an undisclosed location, Lascañas accused the Vice President and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, of masterminding the execution of around 10,000 people in Davao City.
Lascañas said Sara Duterte was the one who came up with the idea of “Oplan Tokhang” when she was Davao City mayor in 2012.
He said Duterte had instructed then Davao City police chief, now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, to kidnap and bury drug suspects, so these would be reported as cases of missing persons instead of killings.
Lascañas also claimed the former president was running shabu laboratories in Davao City. Rodrigo Duterte had earlier denied the allegations.
The Vice President questioned the timing of Lascañas’ interview, saying it could be a desperate attempt to link her to EJKs and her father’s war on drugs amid the ongoing investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“All of a sudden, there is a witness against me following my election as Vice President. And now I am already one of the accused before the International Criminal Court,” Duterte said.
“Aside from the timing, it is clear that there is a move to drag my name in this issue, for me to become an accused in the ICC [investigation],” she added.
Duterte, however, maintained her earlier position that the ICC has no right to meddle in the country’s local judicial affairs.
“The insistence of the ICC to meddle with our judiciary is an assault on our sovereignty. This is an insult to our dignity as Filipinos and our honor as the Philippine nation,” she said.
“There is no debate about it. To the witness and the people surrounding him, go on and file a murder case against me, but here in the Philippines,” Duterte said.
Proceed with inquiry
Sen. Bong Go, also linked to the extrajudicial killings by Lascañas, denied receiving order from the former president to kill drug offenders and other criminals.
“Never did former president Duterte give me an illegal order,” he said.
“Personally, I’ve never possessed or seen such (murder) list in my whole life. I will never do anything illegal or follow illegal orders from anyone,” he added.
He called Lascañas’ statement “rehashed” and without proof. “Nothing was proven, there was no proof,” he maintained.
If there is truth to Lascañas’ accusation, Go said people would have been charged by now.
“Their style stinks. It’s mudslinging meant to make them look clean,” Go said, referring to their critics.
“I’m focused on my job as senator, and I have no other purpose in life but to help and serve my fellow Filipinos,” he said.
“I hope we focus on promoting the interest of our countrymen instead of politicking and destroying others,” he added.
A counsel of the victims of the war on drugs said Duterte should allow the ICC to proceed with its investigation.
“The best solution to their dilemma and desperation actually is to allow the ICC to investigate and to formally register their denials in the court to allow the truth to be properly ventilated, and to pay genuine respect to the victims of the gravest indignities during their time in power,” lawyer Kristina Conti told The STAR.
“Vice President Sara Duterte seems to be desperately grasping at straws now as allegations against her related to the Davao Death Squad and ‘war on drugs’ are surfacing. But echoing her father’s faulty logic about the ICC investigation as an attack on sovereignty and the Filipino’s ‘dignity’ fails to convince,” Conti said.
“She was and is a ranking official who should have known, would have known about the killings and yet, did nothing. And why is she only speaking now? At the least, her inaction and silence as human rights violations rampaged and reigned in Davao and nationwide are indications of support and hallmarks of an enabling environment,” Conti added.
The Dutertes have denied the existence of death squads in Davao.
“We hope both Dutertes, both lawyers, stop skewing the crime that is being imputed: crimes against humanity are widespread, systematic killings and inhumane acts. Murder pales in comparison,” she said. – Bella Cariaso
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