Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted to keeping a “death squad” to crack down on crime while he was mayor of one of the country’s biggest cities.

In his first testimony before an official inquiry into his so-called war on drugs, the 79-year-old said the team was made up of gangsters, adding that he would tell them “kill this person, because if you don’t, you to kill you now”.

Duterte won the presidency in a landslide in 2016 on a promise to replicate his anti-crime campaign in Davao City on a national scale.

The nation’s war on drugs has led to the deaths of thousands of suspects in controversial police operations and is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court.

During Monday’s Senate hearing, Duterte also said he told police officers to “encourage” suspects to fight back so the officers could justify the killings.

“Don’t question my policies because I make no excuses, no excuses. I did what I had to do and believe it or not… I did it for my country,” Duterte said in his opening statement.

“I hate drugs, make no mistake.”

However, he denied that he had given his police chiefs permission to kill suspects, adding that his “kill squad” was made up of “gangsters … not policemen”.

“I can confess now if you want. I had a death squad of seven, but they weren’t cops, they were gangsters.”

Duterte also remained defiant, claiming that many criminals resumed their illegal activities after he stepped down as president.

“If given another chance, I will wipe you all out,” he said.

His appearance on Monday was the first time he appeared at an inquiry into his anti-drugs campaign since his term ended in 2022.

It was also the first time he directly confronted some of his accusers, including the families of drug war victims and former senator Leila de Limaa Duterte critic who was sentenced to seven years in prison on a drug-trafficking charge that was eventually dropped.

The Philippine government estimates that more than 6,252 people have been shot dead by police and “unknown assailants” in Duterte’s “war on drugs.” Human rights groups say the numbers could be in the tens of thousands.

An earlier report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Duterte’s drug crackdown was marked by high-level rhetoric that could be seen as giving police officers “permission to kill”.

Police said many of their victims, who they claimed were drug lords or peddlers, were often killed in “self-defense” during shootouts. But many families claim that their sons, brothers or husbands were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The War on Drugs campaign has been controversial and drawn huge international criticism, but it has had its share of supporters in a country where millions of people use drugs, mainly methamphetamine, known locally as “shabu”.