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‘Ang tumawag sa akin ay si dating presidente Rodrigo Roa Duterte at sinabing ‘Congrats, Superintendent Padilla, job well done,’ Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla says
MANILA, Philippines – After weeks of eluding directly implicating former president Rodrigo Duterte, a Bureau of Corrections official disclosed details on Thursday, September 12, about Duterte’s alleged involvement in the killing of Chinese drug lords.
During the House of Representatives quad committee’s hearing, Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla, former Davao prison chief, confirmed that Duterte called him to commend him after the killing of three Chinese drug lords in Davao prison in 2016.
“Pinapatotohanan ko ang sinabi ni Tata (Leopoldo Tan) na noong papunta kami sa investigation section ay tumunog ang cellphone ko, at ito ay sinagot ko. Ang tumawag sa akin ay si dating presidente Rodrigo Roa Duterte at sinabing ‘Congrats, Superintendent Padilla, job well done. Pero grabe ‘yong ginawa, ginawang dinuguan,’” Padilla said in his affidavit seen by Rappler.
(I affirm Tata’s testimony that when we went to the investigation section, my phone rang and I answered it. It was former president Rodrigo Duterte who called me and said, “Congrats, Superintedent Padilla, job well one. But it’s a bit too much, there’s too much blood.)
“Pagkatapos akong tawagan ni dating presidente Duterte, sinabihan ko ang mga kasama ko na, ‘Tumawag si presidente, nag-congrats sa akin (After former president Duterte called me, I told my companions, ‘The president called me, he congratulated me),” Padilla added.
In the last hearings, Padilla avoided to directly implicate the former president. Last week, he said retired police colonel Royina Garma, who was close to the former president, even threatened him not to intervene in the operation where the Chinese drug lords were killed. However, Padilla said at the time that he does not implicate the president in the crime.
Padilla, in the first hearing he joined on August 28, was not as cooperative with the lawmakers, pushing the panel to cite him in contempt and order his detention.
“Napilitan lamang ako sabihin sa aking counter-affidavit dated August 27, 2024 na wala akong natanggap na tawag galing kay dating presidente Duterte for the security and safety of my family and myself (I was forced to say in my counter-affidavit dated August 27, 2024, that I did not receive a call from president Duterte for the security and safety of my family and myself),” Padilla added.
Duterte and Padilla, along with other officials, are tagged in the killings of Chu Kin Tung (alias Tony Lim), Li Lan Yan (alias Jackson Li), and Wong Meng Pin (alias Wang Ming Ping), who were detained at the maximum security facility of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte in 2016.
Person deprived of liberty (PDL) Tan alleged that cop Arthur Narsolis gave him the order to kill the three Chinese, with the help of his fellow person deprived of liberty Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro.
Padilla’s most recent testimony corroborated Tan’s affidavit. In that affidavit, Tan said that he heard Padilla talking to a person over the phone whom the prison’s chief said was Duterte. Tan said Duterte congratulated Padilla over the phone after the incident.
The House quad committee currently probes the war on drugs, extrajudicial killings, and Philippine offshore gaming operators, and has so far implicated the former president, his family, and their allies. Duterte’s alleged involvement in the Chinese drug lords’ killing was the latest allegation thrown at the president.
On Thursday, the mega-panel also urged the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the 2016 incident. – Rappler.com
