BBM won't comment on Rody's drug war 'admissions'

President Marcos yesterday refused to comment on a question about former president Rodrigo Duterte, citing the need to focus on rebuilding areas devastated by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine.

- Helen Flores, Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano, Diana Lhyd Suelto

A reporter asked Marcos in Laurel, Batangas about Duterte's "admissions" during a Senate investigation on the latter's controversial drug war during his administration.

"I'm not going... I don't want to talk about... I need to talk about what's happened here," Marcos said in a chance interview after visiting and distributing aid to storm victims in the province.

"And you've seen how badly the infrastructure has been damaged. And that's what we should pay attention to. Then, there's the livelihood," he added.

During a hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee on Oct. 28, Duterte admitted having organized a death squad against criminals, but claimed it was composed not of police officers, but of "gangsters" and wealthy persons who liked killing.

He also admitted "full, moral and legal responsibility" for the killings in his brutal crackdown on the drug scourge.