AN alleged ex-member of the vigilante group Davao Death Squad (DDS) yesterday faced a Senate committee and linked President Duterte and his son Paolo to vigilante-style killings in Davao City from 1988 to 2013.
During the resumption of the Senate committee inquiry into suspected drugelated extrajudicial killings, witness Edgar Matobato, 57, said he was a scout ranger when Duterte, who was then mayor of Davao, recruited him to the “Lambada Boys” to kill criminals in the city in the late 1980s.
Matobato said the group later became known as the Davao Death Squad which, he claimed, was tasked to bomb a mosque in retaliation for a cathedral bomb attack in Davao.
Matobato alleged that the group was led by one SPO4 Arthur Lascañas whom he said was considered a very powerful police officer in the city.
He enumerated a series of killings the group was tasked to accomplish, including that of suspected terrorist Sali Makdum in 2002.
Matobato said they would sometimes be ordered to kill even non-criminals, citing the alleged killing of bodyguards of 2010 mayoral candidate Prospero Nograles who ran against Duterte.
He said Nograles’s bodyguards were kidnapped and brought to Samal Island to be strangled, cut open and thrown into the sea.
Matobato also linked Duterte’s son Paolo, now Davao’s vice mayor, to the killing of prominent businessman Richard King. He said the younger Duterte and King were “rivals” over a woman.
The witness also told the Senate committee that Vice Mayor Duterte was a shabu user.
The vice mayor called Matobato a “madman,” and said he would not dignify his allegations which he described as “hearsay.” He said his accuser did not show proof.
Matobato linked the President to the shooting death of broadcaster Jun Pala because of his daily on-air criticisms against Duterte, and the killing of an unnamed fixer at the Land Transportation Office (LTO), among others.
He claimed that one of their victims was literally fed to a crocodile.
Matobato told that Senate committee that he has killed more or less 50 persons.
The inquiry was led by chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Sen. Leila de Lima, who said that the revelations have given her a headache.
Matobato told de Lima that he and his group were about to ambush her and other human rights advocates that looked into the killings in Davao several years back. At that time, de Lima was chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Matobato alleged that National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa knew of their activities.
Dela Rosa, who attended the Senate committee hearing, said he did not personally know Matobato but admitted that he was familiar with his name because, supposedly, he was a known hitman in Davao.
Matobato said he worked under the Davao City PNP Heinous Crime Division whose members were allegedly police officers behind the notorious Davao Death Squad.
Matobato mentioned several personalities including Arthur Lascanas who was allegedly his immediate superior, one police colonel Tony Rivera, and one Rey Kapote.
Dela Rosa said he knows Rivera who was his subordinate during his tenure as head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force in Eastern Mindanao. He denied knowing Lascanas and Kapote.
According to Matobato, he and Lascanas, together with other members of the Heinous Crimes unit, were responsible in the abduction and killing of Makdum in 2002 which dela Rosa allegedly knew about being the head of PAOCTF at that time.
But dela Rosa said he was no longer with the PAOCTF thay time because he was assigned to Camp Crame. (pna)
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