By Charmaine Deogracias VERA Files (First of two parts) They called him Superman. That was the code the Davao Death Squad allegedly gave former Davao City mayor now President Rodrigo Duterte while they were killing criminals on his orders, according to police officer and the DDS’ self-confessed team leader Arthur Lascañas. In his 12-page affidavit signed and notarized on Feb. 19, Lascañas said the squad initially targeted “drug addicts, drug pushers, snatchers, hold-uppers and other criminals.” “Later on, however, we were ordered by Mayor Duterte to go after and kill his personal and political enemies,” he continued. “We became like hired killers who killed not only criminals but innocent people.” Lascañas emerged last week to accuse Duterte of involvement in at least three murder cases, the massacre of a family and the bombing of Davao mosques, which in his affidavit he referred to as just the tip of a “bloody iceberg” that “Superman” had knowledge, directly ordered, consented, tolerated and acquiesced. “The decision to erase and kill the entire family was cleared by ‘Superman,’ which was the code name our group gave to Mayor Duterte,” Lascañas said in his affidavit. VERA Files tried to get a statement from Press Secretary Martin Andanar who referred  us to Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella. As of presstime, Abella has not replied to our request for a statement. Lascañas also formally identified at least 12 police officers and five other civilians in at least five cases he said the DDS was allegedly involved in. These are the raid on the residence of Alan Tancio, allegedly a known drug pusher, in which a housemaid was killed, the massacre of the Patasaja family, the bombing of Davao mosques, and the murders of rogue Constabulary soldier Jun Bersabal and broadcaster Jun Pala. He did not however include in his affidavit the murder of his two brothers that he had publicly confessed to, supposedly in “blind obedience and loyalty” to Duterte. While Lascañas narrated how the DDS operated and executed its missions, and murdered and buried its victims, absent in his affidavits were the dates when these incidents actually happened. This while he claimed that the events contained in his affidavit are some of the “most significant killings” that he and those he tagged did together. The police officers he named were Maj. Ernersto Macasaet, Maj. Ildefonso Asentista, SPO4s Fulgencio Pavo, Jun Naresma, Sanson Buenaventura, Ben Laud, Desiderio Cloribel, SPO3s Gerry Baguhin, Teodoro Paguidapon, SPO1 Jim Tan, Insp. Rommel Mitra and a certain Patayan. All except Mitra allegedly participated either in the killings or the bombing of Davao mosques or both. Mitra was mentioned as involved in the alleged cover-up of the murder of Bersabal, who led a group of Philippine Constabulary soldiers engaged in criminal activities such as “akyat bahay (breaking and entering), rape, and robbery.” Together with Edgar Matobato, who first confessed to be a member of the DDS, Mitra faced an investigation before the Commission on Human Rights, but was later exonerated. Lascañas also named at least five civilians: Cris Lanay, brothers Valentin, Alan and Roland Duhilag and Jerry Trocio who allegedly acted as DDS accomplices. The name of a certain “Miguel” appeared in the affidavit as having helped strip naked the dead bodies of Patasaja family before burying them in a deep quarry. A certain “Joy” of Bacaca Heights, Davao City was mentioned among the “players” or hitmen in the assassination of radio broadcaster Pala that included the Duhilag brothers and Trocio. Lanay was a former member of the New People’s Army who belonged to the Rebel Returnees Association (RRA) which Lascañas claimed they used as force multipliers in their operations. He was allegedly with the DDS from the first operational plan to kill Tancio, a known drug pusher in his residence at Bacaca, Davao City. Lascañas recalled that Duterte won as mayor of Davao City in 1988 and immediately organized the Anti-Crime Task Force headed by Macasaet, who was reportedly Duterte’s “very close friend.” Lascañas became a member of the Task Force, which went after criminals and organized crime. Encouraged by the resulting drop in the crime rate in the city, Duterte then began organizing liquidation squads. Eventually, Lascañas said the group also targeted Duterte’s personal and political enemies as well. (VERA Files is put out by senior journalists taking a deeper look into current issues. VERA is Latin for true.)