Aguirre: NBI probing Lascañas claims on ‘Davao Death Squad’

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Tuesday the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was already looking into the claims of retired policeman Arturo "Arthur" Lascañas about the vigilante group Davao Death Squad, of which he claims to be a team leader.

"I have already directed the NBI to make an investigation on these admissions and confessions of Lascañas," said the Justice secretary.

Aguirre said the scope of the investigation was Lascañas' testimony before a Senate inquiry on March 6 where he claimed that the killings attributed to the DDS were sanctioned by then-Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte. 

The former policeman said they were paid by Duterte up to P100,000 depending on their target.

Lascañas had previously denied the existence of the DDS in a Senate inquiry in October but later said he was forced to do so out of fear for his security and his family's. 

Lascañas left the country last Saturday as he expressed fears of being locked up in jail or killed if he returns home. 

In response, Aguirre said there was no basis for Lascañas' fear that he would be facing cases for implicating Duterte in the DDS.

"Wala nga. Wala naman nang pumapansin diyan nagsinungaling na 'yan eh," Aguirre told reporters.

"Imagine telling somebody that the dance instructor of the sister of the president was killed through the order of the president and then a few days later he appeared saying he was very much alive. How can you believe that kind of person?" he added. 

Lascañas is expected to return to the country on April 22 based on immigration records. 

"Let us see whether he would return," Aguirre said. — MDM, GMA News