Without mincing words, Senator Leila de Lima on Thursday called President Rodrigo Duterte a “murderer.”

“People of the Philippines, your President is a murderer,” De Lima said in a statement.

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She noted Duterte’s statement Wednesday that he would not abandon the police allegedly involved in the November 5 killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. because it was his order to shoot those who would resist arrest.

READ: Duterte: I won’t allow cops who killed Mayor Espinosa go to jail

“That is an admission that he is the mastermind of such extrajudicial killing (EJK),” the senator said.“That says it all about the EJK phenomenon.”

She added, “Together with Edgar Matobato’s testimony on the Davao Death Squad (DDS), Duterte’s admission seals his fate as the Father of all EJKs, first in Davao City, now throughout the entire Philippines, with the number of his victims now beyond the five thousand mark, and still rising.”

Matobato, who claimed to be a former member of the DDS, has accused Duterte of masterminding the killings in Davao City when the President was still mayor.

“What we now have is a Presidential Death Squad,” [De Lima] said.

De Lima said this also meant that Supt. Marvin Marcos, sacked head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Eastern Visayas, and some of its members allegedly involved in Espinosa’s killing were part of the “expanded DDS,” which she said is now national in scope and operation.

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

The senator said there was no longer any basis to dismiss Matobato’s testimony or to clear the President of his role in the EJKs as shown in the report of the Senate committee on justice and human rights. The committee, along with the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, investigated alleged EJKs in the country.

“Let us pray that our President starts fearing God and respecting the gift of life in this season of love and hope,” the senator added.

The changes in the report prepared by Senator Richard Gordon as chair of the justice committee are now in order, said De Lima, lamenting that she was not allowed to read and sign the report before it was released to the media Wednesday.

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“I think this also puts to a close the Senate investigation on who ordered the killing of Mayor Espinosa. Now we all know that the order and command to murder Espinosa in cold blood came from none other than the President himself,” she said.

“God bless us all in this season of Jesus Christ’s birth, to remind us of our humanity as a religious and God-fearing people, whether as Christians or Muslims. Let us pray that our President finally sees the light and puts a stop to all the killings in time for Christmas.”

“Let us pray that our President starts fearing God and respecting the gift of life in this season of love and hope,” the senator added. CBB/rga

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