You can’t blame the media for digging up the past if it’s Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte himself who is bringing up stories of his past exploits.
In his speech at a campaign sortie in Iloilo City on Tue, Apr 19, Duterte had the crowd in awe when he declared, “Sa totoo lang, sanay ako mag-baril ng tao. Mag-graduate na lang kami sa San Beda, may binaril akong tao (The truth is, I’m used to shooting people. When I was about to graduate from San Beda, I shot someone).”
Apparently, Duterte shot a fellow member of the Lex Talionis fraternity back in 1972.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer source from the Lex Talionis fraternity (who asked not to be named) identified Duterte’s victim as the late Octavio Goco. Both he and Duterte belonged to the fraternity.
As Duterte related, Goco had bullied him over his being “Bisaya” and had also allegedly subjected their Muslim classmates to the same ill-treament.
“Goco was hit, but not killed. The incident was settled because the school authorities did not want to drop him, but Duterte was not allowed to join the graduation rites,” reports Fe Zamora in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The report went on to cite another source from Lex Talionis who added that “the shooting incident was ‘hushed up’ by the fraternity with the help of school officials who did not want a scandal.”
The report noted: “The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) roster includes Octavio Goco of Malabon City, who was admitted to the bar in 1975. Goco later migrated to the United States, where he died in 2004.”
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