Daily Tribune“I did what I had to do because I needed to do it. Why? To protect the people and my country."
Former President Duterte arrives at the Senate plenary with a walking cane to attend the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into his controversial war on drugs, far from his once tough image that appealed to Filipino voters.
Senate PRIB
Former president Rodrigo Duterte on Monday defended his anti-narcotics campaign, which allegedly killed more than 30,000 suspect drug addicts and users during his six-year term.
Duterte, who arrived at the Senate with a walking cane, far from his once tough image that charmed the Filipino, said he is taking full legal accountability for the alleged crimes committed by the police that followed his order.
“I did what I had to do because I needed to do it. Why? To protect the people and my country,” said Duterte in an ambush interview ahead of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into the Philippine drug war.
“I am here to make an accounting of what I did as President,” he added.
Duterte was invited as a resource person for the Senate panel’s investigation, led by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
The Senate panel’s investigation was prompted by Duterte’s allies in the chamber, Senators Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, who served as the head of the Philippine National Police in 2016 and led the anti-narcotics campaign of the Duterte administration—the controversial “Oplan Tokhang,” and Christopher “Bong” Go, his former aide.
Duterte was accused of being the chief architect of his controversial drug war by retired PCol Royina Garma, who earlier admitted that the former chief executive ordered her to find police that would implement an anti-narcotics campaign similar to the “Davao model.”
According to Garma, the so-called Davao Model is a reward-for-kill scheme that involves three levels of payments or rewards.
“First is the reward if the suspect is killed. Second is the funding of planned operations. Third is the refund of operational expenses,” Garma said in her affidavit during the House QuadComm hearing.
Garma said he recommended then-police colonel Edilberto Leonardo, her upperclassman at the Philippine National Police Academy, to be the implementer of the said Davao model, based on Duterte’s requirements: a policeman who is a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.
During the House QuadComm hearing last week, Leonardo validated the existence of the reward scheme for police who have killed drug suspects.
