TWO self-confessed hitmen yesterday testified before lawmakers at the House of Representatives that they killed three convicted Chinese drug lords in 2016 allegedly on orders of then President Rodrigo Duterte.
Leopoldo Tan Jr. and Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro told four House committees that they stabbed the three drug lords to death inside the maximum-security facility of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in Davao del Norte on the night of August 13 that year.
The House Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Public Accounts and Human rights, collectively known as the quad comm, is investigating the alleged links between Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), the illegal drugs trade and the extrajudicial killings tied to the Duterte administration’s controversial anti-drug campaign.
Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo dismissed the allegations of Fernando and Magdadaro, saying this is part of a demolition job against the former president.
Panelo said the black propaganda against Duterte and his family is supposedly now in “full swing” as enemies of the former president are now using bare allegations of convicted felons to link him to the crime.
“The enemies of FPRRD (Duterte) are using convicted felons of murders and drug trafficking to link him to the murders of the three Chinese detainees, of which they were the perpetrators, on the basis of their bare allegations. Those convicts have nothing to lose since they are jailed for life. Obviously, they are making those statements for a consideration,” Panelo said.
“If it is true as they say that they killed the three Chinese in exchange for money and release from prison, necessarily they can lie about FPRRD’s alleged link to the murders for the same consideration of money and freedom coming from those who want to destroy the Dutertes,” he added.
Former presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the confessions of the convicted felons have no probative value and do not bind Duterte.
“Res inter alios acta. Confessions bind only confessants and not third parties. No probative value as to third parties such as FPRRD. Confessions in Congress now as to murder of three Chinese nationals should lead to conviction of those who testified but with absolutely no probative values as to the former President,” Roque said.
Because of the new allegations implicating the former president to summary executions, the quad comm decided to invite Duterte once again to explain even if he has already turned down earlier invitations to participate in the House hearings.
PRISON HIT
Tan and Magdadaro said that back when they were still detained at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in 2016, police officials asked them to kill the three Chinese drug convicts who were also detained in the facility in exchange for P1 million and their freedom.
The three victims – Chu Kin Tung, alias Tony Lim; Li Lan Yan, alias Jackson Li; and Wong Meng Pin, alias Wang Ming Ping – were serving sentences for their involvement in illegal drug activities. Two of them were previously convicted for operating a drug laboratory in Parañaque City.
The killing incident was initially reported as an altercation among prisoners, but the two inmates’ new sworn statements revealed a far more sinister plot.
In their sworn statements, Tan and Magdadaro detailed how they were allegedly approached by law enforcement officers connected to the Duterte administration and instructed to carry out the hit.
While walking to the investigation section, Tan said he heard the cellphone conversation of DPPF chief Supt. Gerardo Padilla, who supposedly placed Duterte on speaker phone and he clearly recognized his voice.
“Nadinig ko na sinabi nung tumawag kay Superintendent Padilla, ‘Congrats Superintendent Padilla! Job well done! Pero grabe ‘yung ginawa, ginawang dinuguan (Congrats Supt. Padilla! Job well done! But what they did was extreme, it was a bloodbath),” Tan said in his affidavit, quoting Duterte as telling Padilla over the phone.
“Alam ko na ang kausap Supt. Padilla ay si Presidente Duterte dahil pamilyar po ang boses niya. Pagkatapos ng tawag, sabi ni Supt. Padilla sa mga kasamahan niya doon, ‘Tumawag si Presidente Duterte, nag-congrats sa akin (I knew that Supt. Padilla was talking to President Duterte because his voice was familiar. After the call, Supt. Padilla told his companions there, ‘President Duterte called, he congratulated me),” he also said.
Tan said the contract killing was allegedly offered to him by his high school classmate, SPO4 Arthur “Art” Narsolis sometime in in July 2016 at the Davao prison where he was serving time for violating Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
He said Narsolis was then assigned at the PNP-CIDG-11 in Davao City and his superiors were Col. Edilberto Leonardo, regional CIDG-11 chief and Lt. Col. Royina Garma, who later became general manager and vice chairperson of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
“Kilala ko si Lt. Col. Royina Garma na ka-relasyon ni Art (I know Lt. Col. Royina Garma, he was in a relationship with Art),” Tan said, who also quoted Narsolis as saying, “May ipapatrabaho ako sa iyo at may basbas sa taas. Baka matulungan ka rin namin na makalaya, kakausapin namin ang presidente (I have a work for you and it has the blessing from above. It may also help you regain your freedom, we will talk to the President).”
Tan said the policeman further supposedly told him that he will be paid “isang manok kada ulo (one chicken per neck).” “Sa aking pagkakaintindi at pagkakaalam, ang isang manok ay isang milyon (To my understanding, ‘isang manok’ means one million),” he said, adding that he believed Narsolis’ boss, Leonardo, could deliver on the promise.
Upon Narsolis’ orders, Tan said he sought the help of fellow inmate and “trabahante” (hitman) Magdadaro, who agreed to participate in exchange for the promised financial reward and the prospect of early release.
The following day, Narsolis visited him again to talk to him and Magdadaro. When the gate officer opened the gate, he said he saw Padilla who even tapped his shoulder.
Tan said he was told that the three Chinese would be transferred to another cell with him and Magdadaro for the two of them to kill the three. But to make this plausible, a sachet of shabu with only residues left was confiscated from him and Magdadaro which was enough reason for them to be taken to Cell No. 6.
Tan said that when the three Chinese drug lords were taken to the same cell, they refused to go inside when they saw him, so he and Magdadaro were moved to cell No. 4. After a few minutes, they were returned to cell No. 6.
Tan alleged that on the night of August 13, 2016, he and Magdadaro stabbed the three with “korta and bente nwebe balisong (Filipino butterfly knife)” purportedly handed to him by one Leo Pinkihan, “ang mayor sa bartolina (the mayor of the small cell).”
“Noong August 13, 2016 ng gabi, pinag-sasaksak namin ‘yung tatlong Chinese drug lords,” Tan said, adding that he killed Wang while Magdadaro stabbed to death Chu and Lee. He said Padilla instructed them to dispose of the blades.
‘OUT OF ANGER’
Magdadaro’s sworn statement corroborated Tan’s account, saying, he, too, knew that the President called Padilla to congratulate him.
Two days after the death of the three drug lords on August 13, Narsolis visited them again and told them that they will each receive P1 million when they expected P3 million.
The assassins’ wives visited them in prison and supposedly received P1 million each.
“Hinintay namin yung pinangakong paglaya namin pero hanggang ngayon kami pa rin ay nasa loob ng kulungan. Ibinibigay ko itong salaysay na ito dahil sa galit ko sa kanila (We waited for the freedom they promised us, but we are still languishing in prison. I am testifying out of anger),” Magdadaro said.
The two were charged with homicide for the murders and received additional sentences following subsequent convictions despite assurances that they would be released.
IN CONTEMPT
Congressmen last night cited former Duterte presidential spokesman Harry Roque in contempt for lying before them about why he did not attend the hearing of the four House committees on the proliferation of POGOs last August 16.
The panel reached the decision after Rep. Ron Salo (PL, Kabayan) showed a certification from Manila Regional Trial Court Clerk Jennifer dela Cruz-Buendia which belied Roque’s claim in an August 13 letter that he attended a court hearing that day.
The quad comm’s August 16 hearing was held in Bacolor, Pampanga.
“Mr. Chair, we are also in receipt here of a copy of a certification stating that Atty. Harry Roque has no hearing on August 16 and did not appear in the court of Manila. Mr. Chair, I hate to say it but clearly Atty. Harry Roque, our former secretary and my former law professor, lied to this committee, and that amounts to disrespect to the members of the committee, which is contemptable,” Salo said.
Roque was ordered detained for 24 hours at the Batasan Pambansa’s detention facility.
Roque, however, said he committed an “honest mistake,” saying he mistakenly thought that the hearing was scheduled last August 15, a Thursday.
“I’ve also been a member of this chamber. We don’t hold hearings on Friday. When I saw the notice of hearing, I assumed that just like the first and the second hearing where I attended, that it would be on a Thursday. And that is true, that I had a hearing both in the morning and the afternoon,” Roque said.
By the time he realized that August 16 was a Friday, Roque said it was already close to lunch time.
He said he could no longer attend as the hearing was held in Pampanga.
“I apologize for the honest mistake,” he said.
Roque has been in hot water for his alleged involvement in POGO operations.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair Alejandro Tengco earlier told the panel he went to his office last year along with Cassandra Li Ong, representative of the POGO Lucky South 99, to discuss the firm’s unpaid “arrears” worth $500,000. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
