16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN

Alleged Duterte hitman denied protection after tell-all

testimony
By Joshua Berlinger and Pamela Boykoff, CNN
Updated 8:12 AM EDT, Fri September 16, 2016

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Edgar Motobato claims to have been hitman for Duterte

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

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16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN

Edgar Matobato testified Thursday and will continue speaking to the Senate next week
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He accused President Rodrigo Duterte of running a hit squad while he was mayor of Davao

Duterte's office denied the claims

(CNN) — The man who publicly accused Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte of running a hit
squad and personally killing people won’t be given state protection.

Senate President Koko Pimentel announced on his verified Facebook page that Edgar
Matobato won’t be put in protective custody because his life has not been threatened.

“I’ve denied the request for protective custody of the witness (Edgar) Matobato because there
is no Senate rule to justify it,” he said. “There’s even no showing that his life or safety is
threatened.”

Senator Koko Pimentel

about 7 years ago

I intend to run the Senate based on Rules. I've denied the request for protective custody of the witness Edgar
Matobato because there is no Senate rule to justify it. There's even no showing that his life or safety is threatened.
Worse, the witness' testimony is not even relevant to the resolution being investigated.

8.9K 600 3.9K

Another Philippines Senator called the decision “heartless.”

“We’ll be tackling this on Monday, but in the meantime we’ll just have to find ways to make
th t it ill b t t d” S S T ill
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t ld CNN Phili i 2/12
16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN
sure that our witness will be protected,” Sen. Sonny Trillanes told CNN Philippines.
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‘Our work was to kill’

In testimony Thursday, Matobato said he was part of the 300-member “Davao Death Squad”
(DDS), which he alleges was run on the orders of Duterte.

“Our work was to kill criminals like drug pushers, rapists, snatchers. Those were the people
we killed every day,” Matobato said.

Duterte’s office denied the claims made by Matobato on Thursday, and said the President
was “unfazed” by the Senate investigation.

“The Duterte administration is committed to a platform of a peaceful, crime-free, corruption-

free nation that is not affected by any controversy,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella
said.

Unreliable witness?
Some have called Matobato’s testimony into question, including Duterte’s son Paolo – the
current Vice Mayor of Davao City.

Matobato said in his testimony that Paolo Duterte ordered the killing of Richard King, a
billionaire businessman over a woman.

The King family’s legal counsel, Deolito Alvarez, called the accusations “completely false” in a
text message to CNN.

“I am convinced that the accused who are facing the charge in court are the perpetrators,” he
said. “The statement of witness Matobato in trying to cast cloud and put politics into the
equation is not true.”

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. They are mere hearsay. I will not dignify
with an answer the accusations of a madman.”

Rodrigo Duterte's most controversial comments AFP/Stringer/Getty Images

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16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN

Speaking at a business forum in Manila in December 2016, Duterte admitted killing suspected
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criminals during his time as mayor of Davao City.

Duterte’s tongue the least of Obama’s Philippine problem

‘Systematic failure’
A 2012 investigation by the Commission on Human Rights found that from 2005 until 2009,
“there was a systematic practice of extrajudicial killings, which can be attributed or
attributable to a vigilante group or groups dubbed in the media as the Davao Death Squad.”

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Who is Rodrigo Duterte?

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It also found there was a “systematic failure on the part of local officials to conduct any
meaningful investigation into said killings,” and recommended that a local ombudsman
investigate whether Duterte was criminally liable for “his inaction in the face of evidence of
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16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN
numerous killings committed in Davao city and his toleration of the commission of these
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offenses.”

The report noted that there was a “dearth of evidence” to conclude that local police or local
government was directly complicit in the extrajudicial killings.

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16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN

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Duterte’s war on drugs

Duterte has come under increasing international criticism for his war on drugs.

Philippines National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa told CNN that as of 8 a.m. local time Friday,
2,035 deaths were under investigation – though not all were classified as drug related – and
1,105 people had been killed in police operations.
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16/07/2023, 14:07 Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine leader's office denies claims he ordered death squad hits | CNN
1,105 people had been killed in police operations.
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PHILIPPINES' WAR ON DRUGS

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• Police chief: 300 dirty cops
• FM: We’re not leaving U.N.

Testifying before the Senate committee on August 23, dela Rosa said that local police “follow
the rule of law,” and that there was no shoot-to-kill order despite the growing toll of bodies
piling up in the wake of Duterte’s crackdown.

Duterte came into office with huge public support after he vowed to clean up the country of
drugs and corruption.

CNN’s Ivan Watson, Chieu Luu, Tiffany Ap and Kathy Quiano and Christy Leung and journalist
Charie Villa contributed to this report

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