A ranking House leader said Sunday that apart from the three Chinese killed by two convicts allegedly on orders of former President Rodrigo Duterte, 29 other Chinese drug suspects died in various detention centers.
“I believe that this is a great conspiracy, it’s a grand conspiracy coming from the top to the bottom,” Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said during the Quad committee hearing last Friday.
“This just shows, Mr. Chair, that there was really a pattern, systematic killing of Chinese drug lords in different detention centers,” he said.
Leopoldo Tan Jr., one of two self-confessed hitmen, claimed that Duterte allegedly issued a kill order for three convicted Chinese drug lords inside the maximum-security facility of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in 2016.
Tan, along with another hitman Fernando Magdadaro, implicated several police officials, including SPO4 Arturo Narsolis, Lt. Col. Royina Garma and Supt. Gerardo Padilla, then warden of DPPF.
On Pimentel’s motion, the committee ordered the invitation of all individuals mentioned in Tan and Magdadaro’s testimonies and sworn affidavits.
It also approved his motion for the submission of a comprehensive list from the Bureau of Corrections of all Chinese nationals who died while in detention for drug-related charges in 2016 and 2017.
