Ex-cop: Sara approved 'tokhang' in Davao City

Former Davao City police officer Arturo Lascañas yesterday directly linked Vice President Sara Duterte to the so-called Davao Death Squad, saying she and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, were the masterminds behind the execution of 10,000 people in the city.

- BELLA CARIASO 

In a video interview with the media from an undisclosed location outside the Philippines, Lascañas said it was the Vice President, when she was Davao mayor in 2012, who came up with the “trademark” of Oplan Tokhang.

Lascañas, who claims to have led the hitmen in the Davao Death Squad, said Sara Duterte could sometimes be even more brutal than her father. She allegedly instructed then city police chief Ronald dela Rosa to just kidnap and bury drug suspects.

The Dutertes have denied the existence of death squads in Davao.

There was no immediate reaction to Lascañas’ claims from the Vice President, but she recently said she would face any probe on the drug killings in the Philippines. Like her father and Dela Rosa, now a senator, she said she would not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC).