On Sen. Lacson's committee report
Dispatch from Crame No. 92

5 / 23 / 17

It is unfortunate that the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs chaired by Sen. Lacson has held that SPO3 Arturo Lascañas's second testimony was not credible, inspite of the fact that it corroborates the previous allegations of Edgar Matobato.

Some of my colleagues previously scoffed at Matobato and his story for allegedly being incredible and wanting in corroboration. Now that another conscience-stricken DDS insider, in the person of Lascañas, has joined Matobato in doing a most perilous act of publicly confessing their participation in a criminal enterprise called DDS, again, my colleagues, with due respect to them, have feigned disbelief.

The committee report attempted to discredit the testimony of Lascañas by presenting evidence of negative official records and applying the presumption of regularity of official acts. However, it is not the correct way to approach it as there is nothing official in the operations of the Davao Death Squad. It is precisely because the DDS operated outside the bounds of justice system that their activities are considered criminal. Their targets were simply identified by Duterte under the pretense of administering justice and they executed them without even looking into their boss's allegations.

Anyone who has watched the Senate examination of Matobato and Lascañas, after he recanted, will readily see that the President's allies in the Senate are bent on discrediting them even before they fully presented their case. They presented Matobato and Lascañas with an impossible task of convincing a panel committed to misunderstanding them simply because they are accusing the President.

Mahirap ho talagang gisingin ang mga taong nagtutulug-tulugan lamang.