Leila: Rody modeled drug war after Davao Death Squad
Former Philippine National Police chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa ordered the framing up of former Senator Leila de Lima to the illegal drug trade, police colonel Jovie Espenido told the House Quad Committee on Tuesday.
Espenido confirmed the earlier testimony of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa that Dela Rosa ordered them both to implicate De Lima, a vocal critic of then President Rodrigo Duterte.
Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro asked Espenido if he confirms Espinosa’s statement that they were both directed to collaborate with each other to ensure their testimonies against De Lima were consistent.
“I confirm, Your Honor,” Espenido said in response.
Espinosa earlier alleged he handed over P8 million of drug money to De Lima. He eventually retracted in 2022.
Asked by Luistro if he is also retracting all his allegations against De Lima in 2016, Espenido responded in the affirmative.
Dela Rosa has yet to make a comment on Espenido’s testimony, but he previously threatened to punch Espinosa for allegedly lying.
“Tell him (Espinosa), I’ll punch him in the face when I see him for lying,” Dela Rosa said.
For her part, De Lima linked the “Davao model” of the drug war —a term used by former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma—to the infamous Davao Death Squad allegedly formed and led by Duterte during his tenure as city mayor.
De Lima, testifying before the Quad Comm, said the DDS, known for its extrajudicial killings, operated in two distinct periods.
The first period spanned from 1988 to 199 when Duterte first served as Davao mayor. During this time, hitmen—composed of rebel returnees and PNP officers—were allegedly paid approximately P15,000 for each killing, De Lima said.
Of the amount, P5,000 went to police handlers and P10,000 was split among the assassins, she said.
“Their safehouse was located inside the Napolcom compound in Brgy. San Pedro, Davao. After the summary execution of targeted victims, the DDS members regrouped at their safehouse and divide the reward,” De Lima said.
“Duterte sometimes personally gave out the kill orders and the reward money directly to the assassins themselves,” she added, drawing a direct connection between the former president and the DDS-led killings.
The second period, from 2001 to 2016, saw the DDS transform into a more official and organized unit—the Heinous Crimes Investigation Section (HCIS)—under the Davao City Police Office, she said.
De Lima confirmed Garma’s previous testimony that Duterte replicated the “Davao Model” nationwide during his presidency to implement the drug war, with cash incentives for every drug suspect killed.
She said Duterte’s trusted police officers from Davao, including then-PNP chief Dela Rosa, were appointed to key positions in major urban cities to lead the campaign of killings under the pretext of anti-drug operations.
“Most of our unofficial findings in the Commission on Human Rights investigation were eventually confirmed by Edgar Matobato and Arturo Lascañas,” she said, referring to former DDS insiders who testified about the group’s inner workings.
Matobato was a self-confessed hitman who publicly exposed the operations of the DDS in 2016. His revelations were supported by Lascañas, a former senior police officer who later came forward to corroborate the existence of the DDS and its operational methods.
Lascañas, in particular, submitted a detailed 186-page affidavit to the International Criminal Court, which De Lima described as “the most comprehensive account on the DDS from its founding in 1988 up to 2016.”
In the affidavit, Lascañas identified Duterte—using the code name “Superman”—as the leader and mastermind of the DDS.
“MRRD (Mayor Duterte) alias Superman was the highest leader and mastermind of the DDS,” De Lima quoted Lascañas’ affidavit, underscoring Duterte’s direct involvement.
De Lima said Duterte could be held liable for crimes against humanity under a 15-year-old Philippine law in connection with the alleged EJKs.
She pointed to Republic Act 9851 – a law enacted in 2009 that defines and punishes crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide, and other crimes against humanity.
She argued that RA 9851, enacted two years before the Philippines became a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, covers the systematic killings under Duterte’s drug war.
“The crime of EJKs carried out by state security forces and their agents in the implementation of the war on drugs falls under the general category of ‘other crimes against humanity’ under Section 6, which consists of acts ‘committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack,’” De Lima said.
“These acts include willful killing, extermination, torture, and enforced disappearance, among others,” she added.
