https://www.sunstar.com.ph/more-articles/3-kidnappers-killed-in-davao-businesswoman-rescued
Back in 2013, there was a businesswoman (Sally Chua) who was kidnapped and held for a P50m ransom that eventually whittled down to 15. She convinced her captors that they withdraw the money in Davao where Bato Dela Rosa and co. killed some of them.
I remember it being huge news back then - not only for confirming that criminals could get killed easily in Davao (and indirectly the existence of a DDS) but also for mythologizing Duterte as a mayor who doesn't give a fuck about clean.
Which is exactly the cred he needed to launch a soft campaign in 2014 by going out in public and uttering his "kill everyone now" style interviews. And that resonated with a lot of people. Yet he surprisingly never used that particular event to sell his brand. He instead focused on the asterisk killings of drug pushers who are a grey area because no one knew if they really were guilty or not.
