A witness, who claimed to be a member of a “death squad” linked President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte, his son and other ranking officials to the killing of at least 1,000 people when he was the mayor of his home town of Davao City in Mindanao. His anti-drug campaign, which he started after becoming the president in July this year, has already left more than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and users dead, according to The Guardian.
Advertisement
Matobato said that for more than 20 years, Duterte ordered the deaths of almost 1,000 criminal and political rivals, even claiming that Duterte “finished off” a justice department agent with an Uzi submachine gun. Others were dumped at sea to be eaten by fish.
In the same Senate hearing, Philippine police chief Ronald Bato introduced that 3,541 people have been killed in the “shoot-to-kill” drug war during Duterte’s nearly 80 days in office.
He alleged that among others, Duterte had ordered his band of hired guns under the Davao Death Squad (DDS) group to murder several aides of his then rival, former House Speaker Prospero Nograles; bomb a mosque and kill Muslims; as well as ambush Senator Leila de Lima and murder her.
During the hearing, Matobato recounted a death squad mission in 1993 that was unintentionally impeded by the vehicle of an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, who was blocking the road in the city of Davoa.
Mr Duterte’s spokesman Martin Andanar said he doubted that the President, a mayor at that time, could have ordered the killing of 1,000 people. About 900 died in police operations and the rest authorities say were “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings.
Since he took office, there have been deadly consequences for people accused of drug dealing or corruption. “He emptied two Uzi [sub machine gun] magazines on him”.
There was no immediate reaction from Mr Duterte.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano accused Mr Matobato of being part of a plot to oust Mr Duterte.
He said the country’s Commission on Human Rights had failed to even prove the existence of the Davao Death Squad.
Matobato said the death squad also “tortured” him when he asked to leave the group in 2013, telling his bosses he was “too old” for it and wanted to look for a proper job.
Matobato said that he worked for 24 years under then-mayor Duterte as a “ghost employee” in the Civil Security Unit at City Hall. Paolo Duterte dismissed the testimony as “mere hearsay”, saying he would not “dignify the accusations of a madman”, the AP reports.
Duterte has immunity from lawsuits as a president, but de Lima said that principle may have to be revisited now. He said he chose to surface now because “I wanted the people to know so the killings will stop”.
He said they also killed Duterte family foes and an “international terrorist”.
Mr Matobato said he backed away from the killings after feeling guilty and entered a government witness-protection programme.
The senator argued that Matobato has provided vital information to the inquiry on extrajudicial killings amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
He left the protection program when Duterte became president, fearing he would be killed, and said he made a decision to surface now “so the killings will stop”.
Advertisement
He said Matobato’s testimony at the ongoing Senate investigation on extrajudicial killings was “part of the plan B” of the Liberal Party to destroy the credibility of President Duterte and impeach him to be able to install their own president.
