Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte told a Senate inquiry that he formed a “death squad” of gangsters to kill other criminals while he was mayor of a southern Philippine city.

Duterte made the expletive-filled confession Monday, also admitting under oath that during his time as president and mayor of Davao, he ordered police to “encourage” crime suspects to fight back and “draw their weapons.” Officers can justify murders.

Official police records show more than 6,000 people died during the controversial campaign against illegal drugs during his time as Philippine president. Rights groups estimate that as many as 30,000 mostly indigent suspects were killed by officers and vigilantes, most with no evidence they were drug-related.

The killings are currently the subject of an International Criminal Court investigation for alleged state-sanctioned “crimes against humanity.”

Duterte acknowledged, without elaborating, that he formed a death squad of seven “gangsters” to deal with criminals during his long term as mayor of Davao City before becoming president.

“If you want, I can confess now,” Duterte said. “I had a seven-man death squad, but they weren’t cops, they were gangsters.”

“I will ask a gangster to kill someone,” Duterte said. “If you don’t kill (that person), I will kill you now.”

‘I don’t apologize’

Later in the hearing he also admitted giving instructions to police officers on how to deal with suspects.

“Let’s be clear. My instructions to the officers were: ‘Encourage criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their weapons.’ That was my instruction. Encourage them to fight and when they fight, kill them so that the problem in my city will be solved,” Duterte said.

“I told them, ‘Do the same against the drug dealers, so there will be one less criminal,'” he added in a mixture of Filipino and English as families of the victims of the anti-drug campaign gathered outside the Senate. building to demand the prosecution of Duterte.

The 79-year-old man said he gave similar instructions to police officers when he became president in 2016. Duterte serves as president until mid-2022.

He said among those who could confirm his orders was Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who previously served as mayor and police chief when he was president.

In his opening speech, Duterte also strongly defended his administration: “Do not question my policies because I offer neither apology nor excuse.”

“I did what I had to do, and believe it or not, I did it for my country,” he said to applause from supporters present at the Senate hearing. “I hate drugs, make no mistake about it.”

While Duterte’s crackdown has been widely condemned, only nine police officers have been convicted of charging drug-related crimes against people, including minors.

Investigators are also investigating allegations that those serving as Duterte’s top presidential advisor include Michael Yang, a Chinese national accused of ties to smuggling, illegal drug dealing and illegal gambling.

In 2017, Duterte’s son Paolo and son-in-law Manases Carpio were also accused of concealing a narcotics shipment worth $125 million seized from China. Both denied the allegations as “baseless”.

Some of the controversial murders of minors were the subject of a 2017 investigation by Al Jazeera.

Drug war Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. continued during his term, but the latter pressed for greater emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation.