In a televised committee hearing at the Philippines Senate on Thursday, former militia member Edgar Matobato said he and other members of the death squad saw Mr Duterte kill an agent from the justice department’s National Bureau of Investigation in 1993.
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Matobato and his gang eventually staked out there suspects, arrested them, killed them and buried the bodies in a quarry, he said.
An worldwide human rights watchdog urged the Philippines to probe President Rodrigo Duterte on his alleged involvement in summary killings – and let the United Nations (U.N.) lead the investigation.
“Mayor Duterte was the one who finished him off”, Matobato said, saying Duterte emptied two magazines from an Uzi firearm into the man.
Die-hard Duterte Supporter, DDS, walang Davao Death Squad.
Paolo Duterte responded in a statement, saying “What de Lima and this certain Matobato say in public are bare allegations in the absence of proof”. She’s joined by several global organizations, including the United Nations and human rights watchdogs, in criticizing the wave of extrajudicial killings.
“President Duterte can’t be expected to investigate himself”, Brad Adams, its Asia director, said in a statement.
She said the hitman‘s testimony would be referred to the Philippine Ombudsman, although she acknowledged sitting presidents are immune from prosecution and could only be removed through impeachment. Parallels could then be drawn with the fate of former president Joseph Estrada, who was ousted in a coup in January 2001 …
Duterte has frequently denied involvement in any vigilantism as both mayor and president.
However, following his testimony, Philippines Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre called the allegations “lies and fabrications”, adding Matobato “is obviously not telling the truth”.
De Lima has yet to say why she did not seek to prosecute Duterte over the Davao killings when she was justice minister in the previous administration when Matobato first came to her for protection.
However, she later suggested it might be time to “revisit” the presidential immunity doctrine. “What if a leader is elected and turns out to be a mass murderer?” de Lima asked in a news conference after the tense Senate hearing.
He said the death squad had received orders either directly from Duterte or from active-duty Davao police officers assigned to the mayor’s office. The targets are not only drug syndicates.
In the 2010 elections, Mr. Matobato said when then House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles ran for mayor against Mr. Duterte, they killed four of Mr. Nograles’ “bodyguards”, including a woman who was a former barangay captain.
The HRW in 2009 said there were 124 targeted killings in Davao City from 1998 to 2008 alone. “Ako miyembro ako ng DDS”, said Alvarez.
De Lima on Friday withdrew her request asking Pimentel to grant protective custody to Matobato. “Those were the people we killed every day”, Matobato said.
Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th disclosed that “good Samaritans” have provided temporary sanctuary to Matobato, and called Pimentel “heartless”.
Even if Matodato’s claims do not prove true after further investigation, Duterte’s recent public appearances have anxious American leaders.
Rights groups have long accused him of being complicit in hundreds of extrajudicial killings in Davao. Critics allege Duterte largely achieved that transformation through aggressive use of extrajudicial “death squads”.
“Extrajudicial killing has no place in our society”, he said. The manner of killing was also distinct: “the assailants were usually motorcycle-riding gunmen”, the resolution stated.
” ‘Forget the laws on human rights”.
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Victims’ bodies were mutilated and then dumped on the side of the road.
