Duterte statements at Senate probe can be used to file cases: Escudero, Diokno

MANILA — Senate President Francis Escudero on Tuesday urged families of alleged extrajudicial killings (EJK) to finally sue former President Rodrigo Duterte following his declaration at the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee that he alone was responsible for the brutal drug war.

However, Escudero said only drug war victims or their families can file cases.

Escudero noted that Duterte and his police chiefs have not been sued before, leaving only lowly policemen facing cases and penalized for drug war-related deaths.

The Senate President pointed out that the difference between Duterte's statements before and at the Senate on Monday was that that the latter were made under oath and can be used against him in court.

"Karamihan naman ng sinabi niya kahapon, sinasabi din naman niya nung siya'y Pangulo pa... Ang pinagkaiba kahapon lahat ng binitiwan niyang salita ay under oath... 'Yun 'yung malaking pagkakaiba," Escudero said.

Escudero said it will be hard for Duterte to retract or dismiss his statements as "jokes."

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno stressed that Duterte’s "shocking admission" to organizing a “Davao Death Squad” serves as “damning evidence” that can be used against him in court.

“It is very damning evidence because he made those statements under oath and those are what we call extrajudicial admissions,” Diokno said.

“That is coming from the horse’s mouth. It is the best kind of evidence because it doesn’t come from someone else. It came directly from the former President,” he added.

Diokno also said Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa may also be held liable for issuing Command Memorandum Circular 16-2016 on his first day as Philippine National Police (PNP) chief in 2016 that served as the basis for Project Double Barrel.

“If you look inside that circular, it repeatedly contains the command to negate and neutralize... When you give the police officers that kind of leeway to interpret a command in any way they can, that is giving them a blanket license to kill,” he said.