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.
“The perpetrators were not identified.
