Don’t play the victim to circumstances you created — anonymous
IN the latest House Quad Committee hearing, former senator and justice secretary Leila De Lima brought to light the infamous Davao Death Squad (DDS) that was created by former president Rodrigo ‘Digong’ Duterte to act as executioner of criminals and drug personalities.
De Lima’s testimony corroborated that of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma who claimed that the nationwide drug war during Duterte’s presidency was actually patterned after the Davao model which perpetuated the brutal operations of the DDS.
The notorious ‘death squad’ was composed of law enforcement officers who, while Digong was mayor of Davao City, were all involved in the summary executions of individuals suspected of crimes and drug dealings.
On the other hand, what is known as the Davao model referred to the system put in place by Duterte involving payments and rewards to incentivize police officers who committed the executions or better known as ‘salvage’ operations.
De Lima asserted that the Davao model was used by Duterte to fight illegal drugs during his term as mayor of Davao City and according to former justice chief, Duterte was directly involved as he personally issued the kill orders and provided the reward money given directly to the police officers after a successful kill.
With its success in Davao City, this reward system was thus expanded nationwide when Duterte became president in 2016 and during his term of office, he pushed for a broader crackdown on drug-related crimes that resulted in a surge of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) across the archipelago.
Duterte’s administration framed drug offenders as a significant threat to society, thereby justifying the use of lethal force by police officers in eliminating them.
Their brutal methods of killing suspects on the spot and executing anyone who opposed them were justified under the guise of the drug war.
It is important to remember that thousands of innocent victims were killed during the Duterte administration. Police officers often justified these murderous deaths by using the ‘nanlaban’ concept, which suggested that the victims attempted to fight back, allegedly leaving the police with no choice but to kill them.
When De Lima was asked about this shameless concept, the former senator revealed that the ‘nanlaban’ narrative was initially developed by the DDS while Duterte was still mayor.
The DDS would claim that their victims either fought back or grabbed for weapons while in custody, prompting their arresting officers to kill them in self-defense.
On a national scale, the ‘nanlaban’ excuse became a staple during Duterte’s drug war.
The police officers executing his drug war were motivated by the reward system as they received millions of pesos for every successful kill.
They used the ‘nanlaban’ excuse as a convenient tool to justify intentional murders and reckless killings.
It is no wonder that drug-related killings reached unprecedented heights during the Duterte administration. Police officers were not only empowered by Duterte’s drug war; they also had the ‘nanlaban’ rationalé to justify the killings and were even rewarded for such deaths.
Clearly, the ‘nanlaban’ narrative and the reward system complement each other and go hand in hand.
The link between the DDS, the Davao Model and Duterte’s national drug war is critical to understanding how the EJKs were executed at a national level.
The testimonies of Garma and De Lima reveal a system perpetrated by Duterte in which the killings were accepted, protected and rewarded.
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