Matobato refuted accusations from one senator, a supporter of the president, that he was put up to testify against Duterte by the opposition party. He said, “The Commission on Human Rights already investigated this a long time ago and no charges were filed”. Duterte has accused de Lima of involvement in illegal drugs, alleging that she used to have a driver who took money from detained drug lords.
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Mr Matobato, 57, said he was a member of the Davao Death Squad, a notorious vigilante group allegedly responsible for hundreds of killings.
“Mayor Duterte was the one who finished him off”, Matobato said.
“Perhaps we can link what is happening now to what happened in Davao City in the 1990s until the present, and how the Philippines now mirrors the city of Davao under the two-decade rule of Mayor Duterte”, de Lima said at the hearing.
Among the most disturbing allegations to come out of Matobato’s testimony was that the then-mayor of Davao City personally shot the justice department employee during a standoff at a road block in 1993.
One of the victims – a suspected kidnapper – was apparently fed alive to a crocodile in 2007 in southern Davao del Sur province. But, since assuming office, his approach has sparked controversy, involving vigilantism and extrajudicial killings – he even offered medals to citizens who killed drug dealers. That’s what we did.
“Sen. Pimentel’s office has just informed us that he has denied the committee’s request for Senate custody of Mr. Edgar Matobato”, Trillanes office said in a text message sent to media.
Duterte photographed with soldiers during his visit to the Philippine Army headquarters.
He claimed, however, that there were no injuries since there was no prayer service at the mosque during the attack, adding that Duterte ordered the hit squad to “capture” and “kill” suspects related to the cathedral blast.
“When I become president, I’ll order the police and the military to find these people and kill them”.
But Mr Duterte has dismissed concerns over his drugs policies, calling UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “a fool” and referring to US President Barack Obama as a “son of a whore”, something he later said he regretted.
Matobato himself claims to have killed at least 50 people while working under Mr Duterte, who has been dubbed “the Punisher” due to his extreme stance on drug crimes.
He also said that the practice of police officers is to plant a gun in a crime scene to rationalize the killing of victims.
But he said he leaves it to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into their cases as it’s already beyond his power to investigate them.
The killings allegedly targeted suspected criminals as part of an initiative to improve the safety and reputation of the Filipino city of Davao during the more than 20 years Duterte served as mayor.
Matobato’s testimony set off a tense exchange between pro-Duterte and opposition senators.
President Duterte has denied ordering Pala’s 2003 Davao ambush but has described him as an extortionist and a “rotten son of a bitch” who “deserved it”. She’s joined by several worldwide organizations, including the United Nations and human rights watchdogs, in criticizing the wave of extrajudicial killings.
As we’ve reported, Davao City was notoriously unsafe, once known as the Philippines’ “murder capital”.
Senator De Lima said the bodies later dug up, several skeletons of unidentified people found at the Davao quarry.
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Mr. Aguirre also questioned the witness’ lack of affidavit, which he said is essential to being under the witness protection program that Mr. Matobato said he had abandoned.
