The national police said in a statement Thursday that 1,506 people suspected of being drug dealers or users had been killed by police in the campaign since Duterte took office and that 1,571 additional murders over the same period were under investigation.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed the claims by Matobato, a self-confessed hitman.
“Our job was to kill criminals like drug pushers, rapists, snatchers”, Matobato said under oath, explaining his role as a member of the squad.
The killings he said he has knowledge of happened starting in 1988, when Duterte first became mayor, to 2013, when he expressed his desire to leave the death squad, prompting his colleagues to implicate him criminally in one killing.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has earned a reputation for being tough on crime.
“People in Davao City were like chickens – they were being killed without any reason”, said Matobato.
Duterte has denied any connection to vigilantism-both as mayor and as president.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that the accusations of Edgar Matobato are “very serious allegations that require an independent investigation”. Cayetano said during the hearing. But he said their targets were not only criminals but also opponents of Duterte and one of his sons, Paolo Duterte, who is now the vice mayor of Davao. They are saying that I’m part of a death squad?
The bodies of other victims were disembowelled and dropped at sea, while others were left on Davao streets, their hands made to clutch a handgun, he added.
Duterte’s chief legal counsel said the testimonies of Matobato were obviously lies, adding the witness could not even remember the names of the victims they had killed.
Philippine human rights officials and advocates have previously said potential witnesses refused to testify against Mr Duterte when he was still mayor out of fear of being killed.
“I don’t know what this guy is talking about”, he wrote on Facebook.
Pimentel pointed out the Senate approved the resolution empowering the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights chaired by Senator Leila de Lima to conduct an investigation “in aid of legislation” of the alleged rampant human rights violations. Recognizing that Kim was responsible for a great number of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, the United States placed a ban on communication and involvement with the Korean leader.
Alan Peter Cayetano accused Mr Matobato of being part of a plot to unseat Duterte.
And as Michael reported in July, the killings aren’t unwelcome to all Filipinos. “I did not have any idea that there were hundreds of thousands already in the drug business”, Duterte said in a press conference in Davao City Sunday night.
Duterte arrived later and killed him, he said.
Even if Matodato’s claims do not prove true after further investigation, Duterte’s recent public appearances have anxious American leaders.
As we’ve reported, Davao City was notoriously risky, once known as the Philippines’ “murder capital”.
“He (Matobato) has been vetted, there is some truth to what he said, but the result of the questioning of Senator Lacson tells a lot already, not to mention those who are handling him such as [Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th] who has a penchant for bringing in whistleblowers but never really gained popularity”, Tayao said. “How did I reach that title among the world’s safest cities?”
The UN has repeatedly condemned his policies, as has the Roman Catholic church, the dominant religion in the Philippines, but he has continued to champion a bloody crackdown on drugs.
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Duterte was elected in May on the back of violent anti-drug rhetoric that promised to wipe out the country’s illicit drug trade in three to six months. I’m going to make it public.
