Philippine ex-President Duterte says he kept a ‘death squad’ as mayor to kill criminals

Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has told a Senate inquiry that he had maintained a “death squad” of criminals to kill other criminals when he was mayor of a southern Philippine city. Duterte denied authorizing police to gun down thousands of suspects in a bloody crackdown on illegal drugs he had ordered as president and which is the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte acknowledged at the televised hearing that he once maintained a death squad of seven “gangsters” to deal with criminals when he was the longtime Davao city mayor, before he became president.