Duterte says he had a 'death squad' as mayor but didn't order killings as Philippine president
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has told a Senate inquiry that he maintained a “death squad” of criminals to kill other criminals when he was mayor of a southern city
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told a Senate inquiry Monday that he had maintained a “death squad” of gangsters to kill other criminals when he was mayor of a southern Philippine city.
Duterte, however, denied authorizing police to gun down thousands of suspects in a bloody crackdown on illegal drugs he had ordered as president and which is the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.
Duterte, 79, attended the televised inquiry in his first public appearance since his term ended in 2022. The Senate is looking into the drug killings under Duterte, which were unprecedented in their scale in recent Philippine history.
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.
