Retired SPO3 Arthur Lascañas will again face the Senate today and testify on the alleged existence of the infamous Davao Death Squad that he flatly denied five months ago.
Lascañas, who appeared at the Senate in a press conference last February 20 and tearfully admitted his role in the killing of his brothers who were involved in drugs and self confessed head of the DDS, has vowed to “tell all” about President Duterte’s anti-illegal drugs campaign in Davao City where he was the mayor prior to his election as leader of the nation.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, head of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, will lead the probe after it was resolved by members of the Senate to refer Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV’s privilege speech on Lascañas’ testimony to Lacson’s committee and not to Sen. Richard J. Gordon who chairs the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
Lascañas, allegedly one of the policemen close to Duterte when he was mayor, denied confessed hitman Edgar Matobato’s testimony on the existence of the DDS during Gordon’s committee. Matobato was called to testify on the Senate’s probe into the rampant extra judicial killings.
Lacson said he has invited the Philippine National Police, former police chiefs of Davao City, and the Commission on Human Rights to the hearing and bring their reports on the investigation on the DDS. (Hannah L. Torregoza)