DAVAO CITY—A kagan tribeswoman belied the statement of self-confessed hitman of the Davao Death Squad, retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas, their mosque was bombed through the mandate of President Rodrigo Duterte when he was still mayor of the city.
Indigenous Peoples Representative Halila Sudagar said she had been living in Camamara Mosque in Ma-a Diversion road here for more than 24 years and there was no bombing incident in their mosque.
“I’ve been raised in Camamara Mosque and there was never a time that our mosque was bombed,” Sudagar said.
Lascañas said during the Senate hearing that Duterte ordered the bombing of several mosques in the city in revenge against the bombing of the San Pedro Cathedral in 1993 that killed six civilians and injured 130 others.
During the Senate hearing, Lascañas said Duterte paid him and the members of the so-called Davao Death Squad P300,000 after they bombed several mosques in the city.
He said that they were divided into three groups and their group was assigned to bomb the mosque in Diversion Road, Ma-a—referring to the Camamara Mosque.
“He said they bombed our mosque, it is not true. It’s a lie,” Sudagar said.
In 2003, three mosques here were bombed by unidentified perpetrators hours after the bombing of the Sasa Wharf that killed 16 people and injured 57 others.
The first explosion was at the Muslim district of Tibungco, followed by the mosque in Toril and in Mini Forest, Boulevard.
In Manila, despite the assertion of opposition Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila De Lima that the “recantation” of Lascanas was admissible and worthy of credence, allies of President Rodrigo Duterte in the Senate have continued to attack its credibility.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chair of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, said there was no point in pursuing the probe because the retired policeman failed to present independent evidence.
Due to this, Lacson moved to adjourn the hearing on Lascanas’s recantation wherein he implicated Duterte in the extra-judicial killings and summary executions of almost 1,000 people in Davao City during his term as mayor.
“No need to conduct a second hearing on Lascañas’ testimony.The ‘extrajudicial confession’ of the retired cop has no probative value, and that it is now up to the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Human Rights to pursue their own investigation,” said Lacson.