Philippines ex-President Duterte says he kept a ‘death squad’ as mayor

The former president admits he had instructed policemen to ‘encourage’ suspects to fight back to justify their killings.

Former Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte has told a Senate inquiry that he had maintained a “death squad” of gangsters to kill other criminals when he was the mayor of a southern Philippine city.

Duterte made the expletive-laden confession on Monday as he also admitted under oath that during his time as president and as mayor of Davao, he had ordered police to “encourage” suspects of crimes to fight back and “draw their guns” so that the officers can justify the killings.

Official police records show that more than 6,000 people died during the controversial campaign against illegal drugs when he was Philippine president. Rights groups estimate that as many as 30,000 mostly poor suspects were killed by officers and vigilantes, many without proof they were linked to drugs.

The killings is now the subject of an International Criminal Court investigation for alleged state-sanctioned “crime against humanity”.

Duterte acknowledged without elaborating that he once maintained a death squad of seven “gangsters” to deal with criminals when he was the longtime Davao city mayor, before he became president.

“I can make the confession now if you want,” Duterte said. “I had a death squad of seven, but they were not policemen, they were also gangsters.”

“I’ll ask a gangster to kill somebody,” Duterte said. “If you will not kill [that person], I will kill you now.”

‘I offer no apologies’

Later in the hearing, he also admitted giving instruction to police officers how to handle suspects.

“Let’s be frank. My instruction to the officers was, ‘encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns’. That was my instruction. Encourage them to fight, and when they fight, kill them so the problem in my city is done,” Duterte said.

“I told them, ‘Do that same against [drug] pushers so that there will be one less criminal’,” he added in a mix of Filipino and English, as families of the victims of the anti-drug campaign gathered outside the Senate building to demand Duterte’s prosecution.

The 79-year-old said he gave similar instructions to police officers when he became president in 2016. Duterte served as president until mid-2022.

He said among those who could corroborate his instructions were Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who previously served as his police chief during his time as mayor and as president.

During his opening statement, Duterte also strongly defended his administration saying, “Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses.”

“I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” he said to cheers from his supporters present at the Senate hearing. “I hate drugs, make no mistake about it.”

While Duterte’s crackdown has been widely condemned, only nine police officers have been convicted for framing up people, including minors, of drug-related crimes.

Investigators are also probing allegations that among those who served as Duterte’s top presidential adviser was a Chinese national, Michael Yang, who was accused of having links to smuggling, illegal drugs trade and illegal gambling.

In 2017, Duterte’s son, Paolo, and son-in-law Manases Carpio, were also accused of covering up the seized shipment of $125m worth of narcotics from China. Both have denied the allegations as “baseless”.

Some of the controversial killings of minors were the subjects of an investigation conducted by Al Jazeera in 2017.

The drug war continued under Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, though the latter has pushed for more emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies