Ex-policeman admits killing 200 people on Duterte's instructions

A Philippine ex-policeman admitted Monday to having killed nearly 200 people as part of the "death squads" allegedly created and headed by the president when he was mayor of Davao.


Arturo Lascanas, a National Police agent until December 2016, says he was Rodrigo Duterte's right hand man and on Monday testified at the beginning of a Senate inquiry into alleged extrajudicial killings in Davao.

The former policeman, who two weeks ago before the Senate accused Duterte of being the mastermind behind these killings, said at Monday's hearing that he had killed 300 people, at least 200 of them as a "death squad" member, up until 2015.

Lascanas, whose testimony was broadcast live, denied having a list of those killed, but mentioned specific cases where murders had allegedly been carried out under Duterte's instructions.

Duterte served as mayor of the southern city of Davao, with 1.5 million inhabitants - three times during a 22-year period between 1988 and 2016.
EFE/EPA
6/3/17