It’s final: Hitman to face Senate

MANILA, Philippines - Despite strong opposition from several lawmakers, senators decided yesterday to give retired policeman Arthur Lascañas another opportunity to tell the Senate what he knows about the Davao death squad.

With a majority of senators airing their desire to hear what Lascañas has to say, the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs gave the green light to the inquiry.

The senators wanted to know why Lascañas changed his story, from denying the existence of the Davao death squad (DDS) to admitting he carried out killings in Davao City upon orders of Rodrigo Duterte when he was still mayor.

“As of now, there is a status quo on the referral to the public order committee. I’m coordinating with the office of the proponent, Sen. (Antonio) Trillanes, for the submission of Lascañas’ sworn statement and thereafter, find out who we will invite as resource persons, then I will schedule a hearing,” committee chairman Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

Senators debated heatedly yesterday on the resolution filed by Trillanes on Monday calling for the investigation that was referred to the committee chaired by Lacson.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the public order committee cannot take up the matter right away because it is still tackling other issues and there is also a three-day notice before new hearings could be conducted.

Sotto stressed there was never an impediment to the conduct of the hearing, only technical issues.

Sotto said he was torn between allowing Lascañas to testify again and rejecting this as stated by Sen. Richard Gordon.

Sotto said he agreed with Gordon that it is damaging for the Senate to allow someone who lied under oath to retract his own statements later.

On the other hand, Sotto said he does not want to give the impression that the Senate is covering up the issue by not allowing Lascañas to testify.

The decision to proceed with the hearing did not come easy as several senators expressed their strong opposition to allow Lascañas to testify at the Senate again.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights,  was particularly vehement in his objections to the conduct of another hearing just to listen to Lascañas retract his previous statements.

Gordon said Lascañas is a liar and had insulted the Senate as an institution and does not deserve to be heard again.

According to Gordon, Lascañas should have told the truth when he first appeared before the committee when it was investigating the alleged extrajudicial killings taking place in the country.

Gordon said his committee had already come out with its report, which concluded there appears to be no state-sponsored extrajudicial killings, and now along comes Lascañas to retract his testimony.

During his appearance at the hearing held last September, Lascañas denied the existence of the Davao death squad, saying that it was all “media hype.” – With Paolo Romero