Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has told a Senate inquiry that he maintained a “death squad” of criminals to kill other criminals when he was mayor of a southern city.

A Philippine court has freed on bail of a former senator jailed more than six years ago on drug charges she said were fabricated to silence her investigation of then-President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

A former Philippine opposition senator and justice secretary has been acquitted of drug charges after key witnesses recanted and said they lied about her involvement in trafficking.

Philippine police have killed three detained Muslim militants linked to the Islamic State group after they stabbed a jail officer and briefly held a detained former opposition senator in a failed escape attempt at the police headquarters in the capital region.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, who was once banned from the Philippines by former President Rodrigo Duterte, has met a long-detained Filipino opposition leader, whom he says was wrongfully imprisoned under Duterte and should be freed.

The thousands of killings under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs have left families in agony and a savage side to his legacy.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared victory in this week's presidential elections in the Philippines.

A spokesman says Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will never cooperate with a International Criminal Court investigation into the thousands of killings under his anti-drugs crackdown.