FORMER Senator Leila de Lima told the House Quad Committee on Tuesday about the history of the so-called “Duterte Death Squad,” an accused vigilante organization that formed in Davao and was later organized by former President Rodrigo Duterte across the country.
From 2008 to 2010, De Lima chaired the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which investigated the “DDS.”
“According to a witness in the 2009 CHR investigation, during the first period of the DDS from 1988 to 2000, the assassins were paid P15,000 for every victim. P5,000 goes to the police handler, and P10,000 to the assassins, who at that time consisted of rebel returnees,” De Lima told the group.
She claimed that in some cases, Duterte himself would hand out the reward money to the killers.
“After the execution of targeted victims, the DDS members would regroup at their safe house and divide their reward. During that time, MRRD (then mayor Duterte) would sometimes personally give out the kill orders and the reward money directly to the assassins themselves.” She went on.
The DDS took a back seat from 1998 to 2001 when Duterte served as a House representative after completing his tenure as mayor.
When he returned as city mayor in 2091, the “DDS was upgraded into the heinous crimes investigation section… During this time, the reward given to a team was anywhere from P13,000 to P15,000,” according to De Lima.
Duterte didn’t show up for the panel investigation.
De Lima agreed to give the quad committee her “private notes” on the CHR’s DDS inquiry.