After self-confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) member Arturo Lascañas, another former cop is willing to testify before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pin former president Rodrigo Duterte and his allies.
“[I’m] more than willing because Lascañas has statements that I can corroborate. So I’m more than willing as long as there will be justice and of course, Duterte, [Senators] Bong Go, and Bato dela Rosa would be arrested,” former anti-drug cop Eduardo Acierto said in Filipino during an exclusive interview with Rappler that was aired early August.
“They should be arrested. They should be held accountable so no one will follow suit,” he added.
Acierto was the cop who presented documents detailing the alleged links of Michael Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser, and another Chinese, Allan Lim, to illegal drugs. The former cop said he wanted Duterte to know about Yang and Lim, as the then-president might not even have been aware of the alleged illegal drug links of the two men.
However, Acierto later said that Duterte and the Philippine National Police (PNP), which was leading the drug war at the time, ignored his shared intel. (READ: Ex-cop Acierto speaks out: Duterte, PNP ignored intel on Michael Yang’s drug links)
At present, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is probing the killings under the drug war and crimes allegedly committed by the Davao Death Squad (DDS). This is the probe that Acierto wants to take part in. The ICC prosecutor had recently requested to speak with Philippine officials who were described as “under suspicion.”
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Duterte’s nemesis, had published a confidential document from the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor naming five cops, who included Dela Rosa.
What does Acierto know?
Compared to Acierto, Lascañas seems to have deeper knowledge about Duterte’s alleged hand in the killings.
As early as 2017, Lascañas started revealing the alleged ties of the Dutertes to the killings. After initially denying disclosures of another self-confessed DDS member Edgar Matobato, Lascañas ended up corroborating information from him regarding the involvement of former president Duterte in the killings. Rappler has learned that Lascañas’ affidavit was among the reasons why the ICC pre-trial chamber agreed to authorize the probe into the killings under Duterte’s watch in 2021.
Because of his testimony, Lascañas was granted limited immunity by the ICC.
“Lascañas’ testimony is very important because he’s an insider. He was a member of DDS. I have information that matches with his statements. So it’s important that Lascañas will be invited to speak up to show how brutal Duterte is,” Acierto said.
Why does Acierto want to take part in the ICC probe? Does he have information like Lascañas? Aside from revealing Yang’s alleged ties to illegal drugs, Acierto is best known for being among the PNP’s most seasoned anti-drug operatives back in the day.
He graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1989 and became a pioneer anti-drug operative of the national police. He was part of the founding team of the PNP’s separate anti-drug unit, the Anti-illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force. Later, Acierto rose through the ranks and became the PNP Drug Enforcement Group’s deputy chief for administration.
During his interview with Rappler, Acierto did not divulge details about the information he wants to share with the ICC, but only said that “the main point is still the killings.”
As early as 2021, Acierto gave hints about Duterte’s alleged kill order. The former cop said that when he was an anti-drug operative in Davao City, then-mayor Duterte ordered him to burn down an entire shabu laboratory before ordering the lab staff killed. That’s the 2004 drug raid in Davao City, carried out by the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, that led to the death of six suspects believed to be Chinese. (READ: Davao shabu lab raid: ‘Eliminate them all’)
Acierto even added that Duterte should ask Lascañas if he was having trouble remembering the incident, alluding to the former DDS member also knowing about the operation.
Why Acierto resurfaced
In July, Acierto was invited to appear as a resource person before the House committee on dangerous drugs that is probing into a multi-billion drug haul in Central Luzon. Lawmakers believe Yang might have ties to that drug haul. Acierto renewed his allegations against Yang and told legislators about how Duterte ignored his intelligence report. He also mentioned the names of Dela Rosa and Go.
“Because I saw an opportunity. At the time of President Marcos, I saw justice, I thought I have a chance for a fair treatment. Because what I have been asking is fair treatment, justice,” Acierto said, when asked why he accepted the House invite.
Although he had qualms at first, Acierto said he saw the House probe as an opportunity: “I felt like this is the right opportunity to share my revelations and at least apologize to my personnel who were also affected by the ordeal. I never got the chance to talk to them, to apologize, especially to their family.”
Acierto thinks the probe into Duterte and his allies is important to exact accountability for their alleged crimes, not just for his benefit, but also for others who were adversely affected by the alleged crimes.
“What I want is, the reason why I resurfaced, is to exact accountability so that the next generation will learn from us. Because if these kinds of things will continue to proliferate, especially our problem with illegal drugs, this trade will eat everyone up,” the former cop told Rappler.
At the height of the Duterte presidency, Acierto found himself in the middle of several drug allegations.
“You see, if you look at Duterte’s personality, he’s the kind of person who cannot accept defeat. He cannot move one without exacting vengeance and his vindication is killing,” the former cop said.
Acierto went into hiding in October 2018 when no less than Duterte released an alleged intelligence report claiming that the former cop was into “recycling” of drugs, extortion of Chinese nationals, and other corrupt activities.
In the same year, Acierto was accused of being the alleged mastermind behind a P13-billion shabu shipment: P2.4 billion worth of shabu at the Manila International Container Port discovered inside abandoned magnetic lifters, and another P11 billion worth of missing shabu allegedly packed in similar containers in Cavite. Former Bureau of Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban pinned Acierto during legislative hearings and claimed that the former cop had coursed cash through him to enable the shipment of the magnetic lifters.
A few months after he was accused of having alleged drug ties, Acierto then dropped the bomb and detailed to select reporters in March 2019 how Duterte and the PNP ignored his report. A day later, Duterte told the public not to believe Acierto’s claims and asked the police and military why the dismissed cop was still alive. The following month, a Manila court ordered Acierto’s arrest over alleged illegal drug importation.
Since 2018, Acierto has been in hiding, fearing for his life and safety.
“It’s been six years since I started to evade Duterte’s threats…All those six years were a struggle. I have no communication with my friends, family. Interaction’s very limited. I am not with my family. It’s hard. I hope no one will experience this, to be a victim of Duterte’s injustice,” Acierto told Rappler.
Birth of more allegations
Things have changed since the time Acierto went into hiding. Duterte is no longer president, and the once mighty Duterte family now faces a string of allegations.
Recently, Trillanes filed multiple criminal complaints against the former president, his family, and their allies.
In July, the former senator filed graft and plunder complaints against Duterte over the Davao contracts awarded to construction firms owned allegedly by the father and sibling Go, Duterte’s right-hand man and former special assistant to the president. Trillanes filed another set of graft and plunder complaints this August against Duterte and Go over the alleged anomalous government frigate acquisition project amounting to P16 billion.
Even Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte, Duterte’s son, and Mans Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, were implicated. Trillanes filed a drug smuggling complaint against the two over a P6.4-billion shabu haul in Valenzuela City back in 2017. All of these complaints are now pending before the Department of Justice.
As for Acierto, Guban — who pinned the former cop — already retracted his allegations. Just last August 16, Guban publicly absolved Acierto after claiming that Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio, and Michael Yang owned the magnetic lifters that allegedly concealed the illegal drugs in Cavite.
Guban made the accusations during the House quad committees’ hearing that is probing into the links among Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), Chinese syndicates, the illegal drug trade, and extrajudicial killings in the country. The individual panels that comprise the “quad comm” had earlier launched probes that have implicated the former president and his allies.
Along with the committees on human rights and dangerous drugs, the House panels on public accounts, and public order and safety, comprise the quad comm.
The House committee on human rights is investigating the drug war and had even invited drug war victims and former senator Leila de Lima, Duterte’s other arch-nemesis, who looked into the killings under Duterte when she was still chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. Another House panel is probing into POGOs in the country and even put Harry Roque, Duterte’s former spokesperson, in the hot seat due to his alleged ties to a POGO in Pampanga.
All of these have happened and are happening while Acierto is in hiding, waiting for his turn to share the information he knows to implicate Duterte and his allies again — be it before the ICC or in the country. – Rappler.com
*Quotes were translated into English for brevity