Lascañas apologizes to Senate, claims he was ‘forced’ to lie

Retired Davao City cop Arturo "Arthur" Lascañas on Monday apologized to the Senate for lying under oath when he first faced the justice committee last year.

Lascañas claimed he was "forced" to lie as instructed by retired SPO4 Sonny Buenaventura, the trusted aide of former Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte.

"I told Supt. Rivera [that] my fear is that I could be issued a warrant so he told me, if ever you are forced to present yourself, deny everything. That is the instruction of SPO4 Sonny Buenaventura and I said 'yes, of course'," Lascañas told the Senate public order committee.

The public order committee chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson is conducting a hearing on the allegations of Lascañas against Duterte.

Self-proclaimed DDS member Lascanas (middle) now at the Senate hearing @gmanewsbreaking pic.twitter.com/xDLRKMXXcD

— amitalegaspi (@amitalegaspi) March 6, 2017

Lascañas earlier made a complete turnaround from his October testimony and claimed that the so-called Davao Death Squad exists. He said Duterte paid up to P100,000 per target.

The retired cop also said Duterte was responsible for several killings, including that of radio broadcaster Jun Pala.

Lascañas said he made the public confession for the sake of truth.

"The reason why I made my public confession last week because of my desire to tell the whole truth not only because of my spiritual renewal but the fear of God and I wanted to clear my conscience," he said.

"The reason I approached the Church people of the lands because of my sincerity to put the lives of my loved ones and myself for the sake of truth," he added. — RSJ, GMA News