Ex-Davao City mayor says Duterte not behind DDS

MindaNews

May 23, 2009
3:48 am

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/22 May) – The bombshell did not come.
Former mayor Benjamin de Guzman cleared Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of allegations the latter was behind the Davao Death Squad when he testified before the public hearing on extra judicial killings conducted by the Commission on Human Rights at the Waterfront Hotel this morning.

De Guzman told CHR Chairperson Leila de Lima that he did not even use the death squad as a political issue against Duterte in the 2001 and 2004 elections when the former allies parted and fought each other for the mayoralty.

De Guzman was Duterte’s vice mayor until Duterte completed his three terms as mayor in 1998. De Guzman ran for mayor under Duterte’s camp in 1998 while the latter ran for the 1st district congressional seat. In 2001, De Guzman, who was expected to run for congressman as Duterte was returning to run for mayor, opted to challenge Duterte for the mayoralty. Duterte defeated him.

“I really do not know. If I give any statement it will be one speculation on top of another,” de Guzman said.

De Lima had asked De Guzman if he was aware that Duterte was behind the death squads in Davao City.

“I do not even know if I ever have used the death squads as an issue against my opponent,” the former mayor told the commissioner.

De Guzman also told de Lima that the killings of suspected criminals also happened during his term as mayor, between 1998 and 2001.

He said that as before, many of the killings during his administration were also not solved by the police.

He said many of the victims during his administration were small-time drug pushers and “some criminals,” adding several of them were 18-year-olds.||| |||buy bimatoprost online with |||

“The perpetrators were not identified.||| |||buy doxycycline online with |||

Every time I asked the police, they would tell me that there were no witnesses that could point to the killers,” he said.

Wendel Avisado, City Administrator, also testified that he had no knowledge of the existence of the death squads.

Avisado, however, told de Lima that illegal drugs are a major problem among the city’s youth.

He said the city spends P1 million a month to maintain a rehabilitation center and trained personnel because of the drug problem.

De Lima said it was clear that some local public officials are “stonewalling” the investigation.

But she said their investigators have come up with witnesses that secretly testified on the existence of death squads in Davao City.

“We even have the testimony of a former death squad member,” she told reporters.||| |||buy symbicort inhaler online with |||

She said they will be conducting a fourth public hearing next month but will have to decide whether to hold it here in Davao City or in Manila to protect witnesses who are afraid to testify.

The CHR official said the results of their investigation will be known before the end of the year. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)

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