NATION | De Lima to Filipinos: Your President is a murderer, father of all EJKs

PH Senator Leila De Lima

By Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez GMANews

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Leila de Lima on Thursday lambasted President Rodrigo Duterte as a “murderer” and “father of all EJKs” (extrajudicial killings), after the chief executive’s defense of the cops tagged in the slay of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa under police custody. 

In a statement, De Lima said Duterte’s recent remarks on the incident are an admission that he ordered the murder of Mayor Espinosa.

“That is an admission that he is the mastermind of such extra-judicial killing. That says it all about the EJK phenomenon,” De Lima, former secretary of Department of Justice, said.

Citing the testimony of witness Edgar Matobato, who testified before a Senate committee on the existence of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), De Lima said Duterte’s statement “seals his fate as the Father of all EJKs” first in Davao City and now, the entire country.

On Wednesday, Duterte said he will not allow the policemen tagged in the killing of Espinosa to go to jail.

The President was referring to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) team who earlier claimed that Espinosa was killed in a shootout inside his cell at the Baybay City Sub-Provincial Jail.

Senator De Lima said the team of CIDG Region 8 head Supt. Marvin Marcos, which Duterte earlier sought to be reinstated to his post, “comprise part of the expanded DDS, which is now national in scope and operation.”

“Nothing can be clearer than that. What we now have is a Presidential Death Squad,” De Lima said.

“Now we all know that the order and command to murder Espinosa in cold blood came from none other than the President himself. People of the Philippines, your President is a murderer,” the senator said.

De Lima said the public should pray that Duterte puts a stop to the recent rampant killings in time for Christmas.

Duterte’s remarks on the CIDG cops came a day after the National Bureau of Investigation concluded that the killing of Espinosa was a murder and rubout.