Duterte welcomes planned probe on Davao death squads

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential survey frontrunner Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte welcomes Vice President Jejomar Binay’s plan to create an investigating body that will look anew into the alleged Davao Death Squad (DDS). 

Duterte told reporters while on the campaign trail in Lipa City in Batangas that his reported connection to the DDS has always been raised as a last-resort black propaganda in every election.

“My rival (Binay) is down. You know if a person is already losing, then it’s nothing… tell him that I would thank him (for the chance to defend myself),” Duterte said in Filipino, referring to Binay’s statement that he would give the mayor a chance to answer.

Sen. Alan Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, said he would be glad to join Binay during the probe.

“I will accompany him because Mayor Duterte has been investigated for the past 20 years and they could not prove that he violated the laws,” Cayetano, a lawyer, said.

He added that the Vice President is now in panic mode as the May 9 polls draw closer.

Duterte also continued his tirades against Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas, who wooed supporters by saying he is neither corrupt nor a dictator.

“What? He is a liar. This guy is into vanity that is why I said let’s stop talking about the sexual predilections of Roxas,” Duterte retorted, pointing out that the former transportation secretary could not wash his hands of the corruption at the Metro Rail Transit.

As for the call of rival Sen. Grace Poe to stop all the name-calling, Duterte said “get out of the kitchen if you cannot stand the heat.”

“This is politics. It is natural,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sen. Pia Cayetano is doing campus tours to pitch for her younger brother, Duterte’s vice presidential bet.

“I just do this by sheer faith in what my brother can do and what Mayor Duterte can also do,” she said after a dialogue with the students and faculty of Pangasinan State University in Lingayen.

The lady senator added that “no one is making commitments the way Alan has,” citing the nine years that Alan was in Congress and another nine years in the Senate. – With Eva Visperas