“Former president Rodrigo Duterte confirms existence of Davao Death Squad when he was mayor of Davao City, pointing to former police officers, including Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, as its members.”
What Vera Files found
In 2015, Duterte said DDS stands for Davao Development System, not Davao Death Squad. He had also previously admitted having links to the death squad
Their words, from the summary they publish with the rating.
In short
Rodrigo Duterte made this claim around 13 November 2024. Vera Files (Philippines) looked into it and published its finding on 15 November 2024, 2 days later. Its rating was “Flip-flop”.
Rodrigo Duterte has 126 checked claims in this archive. Fact-checking organisations rated 46 of them false or fake, 78 misleading or mixed and 0 true.
Where the claim appeared
- YouTube videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v4B2VNoLtI
Links recorded by Vera Files. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by Vera Files, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.