Ex-Philippines president Duterte: "I had a death squad"

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte stunned a senate hearing on Monday when he admitted having a "death squad" to help carry out his deadly war on drugs for over a decade during his tenure as mayor of Davao City.

Appearing before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for the first time, the 79-year-old confessed: "I had a death squad. This was a death squad but I didn't use the police. I used gangsters. One gangster, I would order him – 'Kill this person, because if you do not, I will kill you now.'"

The admission came five hours into a nine hour-long probe investigating allegations of extrajudicial killings during Duterte's presidency, particularly under the controversial "Operation Tokhang" anti-drug campaign. Police put the official death toll of the operation at just over 6,000 deaths but human rights advocates argue the actual number is more than four times higher.

!pinoypride !asians I'm beginning to think the human rights orgs might have been onto something.