Gordon: Duterte, gov’t not behind killings

Senator Richard Gordon said neither President Rodrigo Duterte nor his administration was behind the spate of alleged extrajudicial killings of drug suspects based on the testimonies presented before the Senate justice committee.

“Insofar as state-sponsored killings, I don’t believe it,” Gordon told reporters in an interview shortly after he terminated the Senate probe on drug-related killings in his capacity as chairman of the committee.

“No, I don’t think it’s Duterte-inspired. The President is inspired to kill drugs because he really means to eradicate drugs but I don’t think he’s gonna push anybody to say and kill,” he added.

“Wala akong nakukuhang order galing sa kanya and even from Bato na nagpapatay siya ng tao,” the senator further said, referring to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

Over 3,000 people have been killed either in police operations or by suspected vigilantes since Duterte, a former Davao City mayor, took office with the vow to rid the country of its drug problem in the first months of his administration.

Rule of law

Gordon, in the interview, said despite the killings, the investigation conducted in six hearings proves that the “rule of law” still exists.

“May rule of law sa ating bayan. It’s not perfect but you can see that the branches of government are working so even if the President talks a lot about many things… there is a rule of law,” he said.

Gordon said, however, that “one death is too many especially if it is going to be perpetrated by men in uniform or vigilantes.”

He said he intends to come out with the committee report enumerating the panel’s recommended laws by Monday next week.

Proposed laws

One of the recommendations, he said, was to propose a budget for the purchase of body cameras for policemen.

Gordon said the Senate should also craft a law specifying that policemen alleged to be involved in extrajudicial killings be suspended within three days.

“The policemen will now be conscious, may pressure na magawa yung resulta ng imbestigasyon,” he said.

Matobato

With regards to confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, Gordon said he will discuss with the members of the committee if they will recommend perjury charges against him for supposedly lying before the panel.

Matobato was presented by Senator Leila de Lima as a witness in the killings in Davao City during Duterte’s term there as mayor.

It was De Lima who filed a resolution calling for an investigation on the spate of killings amid the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

Gordon suspected however that “there really is an effort to try and pin down Mayor Duterte” on the killings.

“For all you know, guilty or not si President Duterte — there was an effort and there obviously was an antecedent na noong araw pa magkagalit sila. Nung nasa CHR siya (De Lima), tinutugis niya si Presidente. Ngayong presidente na si Duterte, mukhang siya naman ang tinutugis,” Gordon said.

De Lima, in her capacity as chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), investigated Duterte’s alleged links to the so-called Davao Death Squad back in 2009. —KBK, GMA News