📷BuCor Col. Gerardo Padilla
Former Davao prison chief Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla said that former President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte congratulated him for bloodily killing the three Chinese nationals allegedly involved in drug operations in 2016.
Padilla made the admission during the House of Representatives quad committee’s hearing on Thursday, September 12, after weeks of eluding and directly implicating the former president on his killings.
“Pinapatotohanan ko ang sinabi ni Tata (Leopoldo Tan Jr.) 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.
“Pagkatapos akong tawagan ni dating presidente Duterte, sinabihan ko ang mga kasama ko na, ‘Tumawag si presidente, nag-congrats sa akin,” Padilla added, referring to those people he was with – particularly handcuffed inmates Tan and Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro.
Officials claimed that Duterte, Padilla, and other officials killed Chu Kin Tung (alias Tony Lim), Li Lan Yan (alias Jackson Li), and Wong Meng Pin (alias Wang Ming Ping). These people were prisoners at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte in 2016 and were being held in the maximum security facility.
A person deprived of liberty (PDL) Tan said that police officer Arthur Narsolis told him to kill the three Chinese people with the help of Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro, who was also in jail.
Tan and Magdadaro had already named Duterte on August 22 when they talked about how they killed the three Chinese people with stab wounds.
During the last hearings, Padilla didn’t directly blame the previous president. He said last week that retired police colonel Royina Garma, who was close to the former president, even told him not to get involved in the operation that killed the Chinese drug lords. At the time, Padilla said that he does not think the president is responsible for the crime.
However, the most recent testament from Padilla backed up Tan’s affidavit. Within that document, Tan claimed that he heard Padilla talking on the phone to someone the prison’s head identified as Duterte. Tan said that after the event, Duterte called Padilla to thank him.
At the moment, the House quad committee is looking into the war on drugs, killings that don’t follow the law, and Philippine offshore gaming operators. They have already found evidence that links the former president, his family, and their supporters to these problems. The most recent accusation against the president was that he helped kill the Chinese drug lords. (TCSP)
