JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the veracity of the allegations of self-confessed hitman and retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte's alleged involvement in the vigilante group known as Davao Death Squad (DDS).
"I already directed the NBI to make an investigation about this admissions and confessions of Lascañas," Aguirre said in an interview on Tuesday.
Lascañas at a press conference last February corroborated the claims of another alleged hitman Edgar Matobato on the existence of the DDS.
Meanwhile, Aguirre explained that the Department of Justice (DOJ) could not prevent Lascañas from leaving the country as no lookout order or hold departure order has been issued against him yet.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Sunday evening confirmed that Lascañas left the country on board a flight to Singapore last Saturday, April 8.
Aguirre, explaining the DOJ's inaction to the departure, likened Lascañas' situation to the trip of Senator Leila De Lima last December to attend an event in the US.
"I have to approve the departure [of De Lima] because there is no lookout bulletin or any hold departure order against her and no case has been filed against her," Aguirre said.
"There is no justification to hold or not to allow her to depart. In the same way there is no case against Lascañas so we could not hold him or not to allow him to depart from the Philippines," he added.
However, Aguirre also said that there was no basis for Lascañas' claim that he left the country as he feared that the government would file cases against him.
"Most probably what he is afraid of is that he will be found guilty of persons he killed, that's like what happened to Matobato," Aguirre said.
Matobato was charged by a court in Davao last month for the kidnap-slay of alleged terrorist Sali Makdum in 2002.
A few months after testifying before the Senate linking Duterte to DDS, Matobato was also charged for frustrated murder for the attempted killing of retired Agrarian Reform adjudicator Abeto Salcedo Jr. in 2014.
He posted a P200,000 bail for his frustrated murder case at Manila Regional Trial Court just last month.
Asked how will Lascañas' flight affect the weight of his testimonies, Aguirre said: "Let us see whether he would return, otherwise yung kanyang pagalis would be considered as flight and flight, a sign of guilt." (VoxPop Philippines)
