De Lima: Lascañas testimony proves Duterte has a 'criminal mind'

The claims of retired SPO3 Arturo "Arthur" Lascañas of involvement in Davao City killings proves that President Rodrigo Duterte has a "criminal mind," Senator Leila de Lima said Monday in a handwritten statement from her detention facility. 

"No doubt Lascañas' testimony, like that of Matobato is credible. Both Lascañas and Matobato are actual and direct participants in many incidents of killings as ordered by the Mayor Duterte," De Lima, said referring to another confessed hitman Edgar Matobato. 

De Lima said Lascañas and Matobato's testimonies are "admissible and worthy of credence" because it was based on personal knowledge. 

Lascañas and Matobato both claim that the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS) exists and that Duterte was responsible for the killings committed by the group. 

De Lima, a staunch critic of the President, launched an investigation on the DDS during her term as chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). 

"From these revelations, the hard, ugly and inconvenient truth is that President Duterte has a criminal mind as he is in fact a criminal , a mass murderer at that," De Lima said. 

De Lima is currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame over drug-related charges. —JST, GMA News