Ex-President Duterte admits planting of evidence as mayor

FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday admitted to resorting to planting of evidence on a suspected criminal during his time as mayor in Davao City.

He made the admission at the end of a question-and-answer exchange with Quad Comm co-chairman and Rep. Dan Fernandez of Santa Rosa City, Laguna after initially denying he employed evidence-planting, contrary to what he declared in a 2016 interview.

The former president changed his denial when shown a video footage of his interview.

“Hindi po toton yung nasa video?” Fernandez asked Duterte, to which the latter responded, “Totoo yan.”

“So totoo pong nagpa-plant kayo ng evidence?”

“Well, that was a part of the strategy as a mayor and as the leader of a law enforcement agency in the city,” the former president answered.

Before this admission, Fernandez asked, “Mr. President, mayroon po kayong sinabi ‘nung 2016 sa interview niyo po that you have planted evidence during your time as a fiscal. Is this true?”

“That’s garbage, sir,” Duterte said.

“So, yung po nga sabi n’yo sa video, hindi po siya, totoo? insisted Fernandez.

“Alam ng mga police yan, ‘yung planting of evidence,” came the answer.

“Kasi, Mr. President, yung po yung napanood ko at sinabi niyo po…na nagpa-plant po kayo ng evidence and we wanted to find out. Kasi po yung pronouncement niyo po was construed by the members of the PNP organization that they can do freely the planting of evidence,” Fernandez said.

“That’s illegal. I was teaching them (policemen) criminal law,” the former president said.

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