Former Philippine President Duterte said that as mayor he ran a “death squad” to kill criminals.

MANILA – Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said during a Senate inquiry on Monday that he supported “death squad” of gangsters killing other criminals while he was mayor of a southern Philippine city.

Duterte, however, has denied allowing police to shoot thousands of suspects in a bloody crackdown on illegal drugs that he ordered as president and is the subject of International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.

Duterte, 79, attended the televised investigation in his first public appearance since his term ended in 2022. The Senate is investigating drug-related killings under Duterte that were unprecedented in scale in recent Philippine history.

Duterte admitted, without elaborating, that he once maintained a death squad of seven “gangsters” to fight criminals when he was the longtime mayor of Davao City before becoming president.

“I can confess now if you want,” Duterte said. “I had a seven-man death squad, but they weren’t cops, they were gangsters too.”

“I will ask a gangster to kill someone,” Duterte said. “If you don’t kill (this man), I will kill you now.”

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, who oversaw the investigation, and Senator Risa Hontiveros pressed Duterte for more details, but the former president was vague and said he would explain more at the next hearing.

Often cursing during the hearing, Duterte said he would take full responsibility for the killings that occurred while he was president from 2016 to 2022. But he said he never ordered his national police chiefs, who were also present at the investigation, to carry out extrajudicial killings.

“Have I ever told you to kill some criminal?” Duterte reached out to his former police chiefs. Among them was Ronald Dela Rosa, the current senator who pioneered Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs as national police chief.

“No, Mr. President,” Dela Rosa replied.

Apart from the ongoing International Criminal Court investigation, no criminal cases have been filed against Duterte in Philippine courts over the killings.

“I am puzzled why the Department of Justice has not filed any cases,” Duterte said. “I’ve been killing people for a long time, and they still haven’t opened a single case?”

Former Senator Leila de Lima, one of Duterte’s most vocal critics who once investigated drug-related killings in Davao, said there was ample evidence and witnesses of extrajudicial killings but they were afraid to testify against Duterte when he was in power .

De Lima was arrested in advance During Duterte’s presidency, drug charges she said were fabricated to prevent her from pursuing a Senate investigation. Last year, the charges against her were dropped and she was released from custody, where she spent more than six years.

“This man, the former mayor of Davao City and former president of the Republic of the Philippines, has evaded justice and accountability for so long,” de Lima said, sitting next to the former president.

“We have not brought him to justice in all these years,” she said, adding that witnesses could now come forward and help bring Duterte and his associates to justice.

Arturo Lazcanas, former police officer who served under Duterte for years in Davao City’s heinous crimes unit, told The Associated Press in an interview in 2022 that as many as 10,000 suspects may have been killed in Davao City on orders from Duterte and the former mayor’s key aides, including him .

Lascanas, who was hiding abroad, said he provided his testimony and other evidence to the International Criminal Court.

Duterte’s associates may have removed the remains of a large number of victims buried in a quarry in Davao City, but Lazcanas said the remains of some victims who were buried elsewhere by his police team could still be recovered and used as key evidence against the former leader and others.

Duterte sounded defiant at the hearing.

“If I am given another chance, I will destroy you all,” Duterte said of drug traffickers and criminals, who he added have resumed their criminal activities since he left office.

One of Asia’s most unorthodox modern leaders, Duterte ended his turbulent six-year term in June 2022, ending more than three decades of often tumultuous politics in a country where he made a political name for himself with his abuse and disdain for the people. The West is also right, while simultaneously addressing China and Russia.

Activists considered him a “human rights disaster” not only because of the massive death toll of his so-called war on drugs, but also because of his brazen attacks on critical media, the dominant Catholic Church and the political opposition.