Bureau of Corrections Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla, who said that he was told to back off a kill order on three Chinese inmates convicted of drug charges, knows enough of the drug war deaths to qualify as a state witness, House Public Order and Safety Committee Chairperson Dan Fernandez said Friday.
During his recent appearance before several house committees, Padilla asked for and was granted an executive session with lawmakers for his and his family’s safety.
An executive session is a closed-door meeting between lawmakers and resource persons, and is not open to the public, including journalists. Disclosure of topics discussed during an executive session needs the approval of the majority of the lawmakers.
“I am not at liberty to say anything about it for now. Ang masasabi ko lamang, medyo very significant iyong mga revelation niya roon. And I think that will constitute him being a part… most likely, under the WPP (Witness Protection Program) [for state witnesses],” Fernandez told reporters in a virtual press conference.
As to whether Padilla qualified as a state witness and if the committee would recommend that he be made one, Fernandez said, “Yes. very much [likely we will] recommend him to the WPP.”
Padilla, a former officer-in-charge of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, had told the four joint House committees probing the drug war deaths during then President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration that a high-ranking Davao City police official called him and told him not to interfere in an operation to kill Chinese inmates convicted of drug offenses.
These inmates were detained at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in August 2016.
“To my mind, the call… was intense pressure and threat to me because I knew for a fact of the operation made against a certain drug lord in Leyte days before,” Padilla added. — DVM, GMA Integrated News
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