Matobato being eyed as witness vs Duterte
SELF-CONFESSED hitman Edgar Matobato, an alleged former member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), is now under the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is being eyed as a witness against former President Rodrigo Duterte in the crimes against humanity complaint pending before the international body.
Former senator Leila de Lima disclosed this in an interview with Teleradyo Serbisyo yesterday after the New York Times reported that Matobato, his wife and two stepchildren have allegedly left the country under an assumed name.
“Lumabas na siya, nakalabas na sa Pilipinas. Ang alam ko, under the protective custody na rin ng ICC. Ang alam ko, base sa aking impormasyon, ay nakuha na siya (He [Matobato] has left the country. Based on information that was relayed to me, he is now under the protective custody of the ICC. I was also told that he is being considered as a witness [by the ICC]),” De Lima said.
She added that Matobato has supposedly been interviewed and his testimony reviewed by ICC probers.
“Ang alam ko po ay na-contact na rin siya ng ICC at kinonsider na rin ang kanyang testimonya. Kinausap na rin siya ng ICC, vinet na rin siya ng ICC (To my knowledge, the ICC has contacted him, and his testimony has been reviewed and considered. The ICC was able to talk to him, he was vetted by the ICC),” she also said.
The ICC is probing the deaths of thousands of Filipinos who are believed to have been victims of extrajudicial killings related to Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
The Philippine government has refused to cooperate in the ICC probe, citing Manila’s withdrawal in 2019 from the Rome Statute.
President Marcos Jr. had directed concerned government agencies and officials not to help in the investigation, while the Department of Justice had said that ICC probers are not allowed to conduct any probe in the country.
Matobato had testified before the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights in 2016, which was at the time chaired by De Lima, and alleged that he had killed several individuals supposedly on orders of Duterte when he was still the mayor of Davao City.
The Senate panel was then investigating the extrajudicial killings linked to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Matobato had also claimed that De Lima was supposedly likewise a target of the DDS because of the investigation conducted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in 2009, then headed by the former senator, on the spate of killings in Davao City.
The Duterte administration had prosecuted De Lima for drug-related charges, which have all been dismissed by the courts. She was released from detention at the PNP Custodial Center last year after the Muntinlupa trial court threw out the last drug case against her.
In the New York Times report, Matobato was quoted as saying that he and his family were able to flee the country using new identities. He reportedly took a flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and then took another flight heading to an undisclosed destination.
The article was uploaded on the New York Times website on January 5 this year.
Matobato had gone into hiding after making his disclosures against the DDS activities and Duterte’s role in its operations. The article said he transferred from one hiding place to another and was protected, at times, by members of the Catholic Church.
Duterte had previously denied Matobato’s allegations, including the existence of the DDS.
However, during his testimony before the quad committee of the House of Representatives late last year, Duterte confirmed that he had formed a group of hitmen to go after drug suspects in Davao City when he was still the mayor.
He had likewise said he was taking responsibility for the killings perpetrated by police officers in pursuit of his drug campaign.
‘NO CONTROL’
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said Malacañang has no information on the whereabouts of Matobato.
“Wala kaming masabi dyan dahil we have no connection with Mr. Matobato (We cannot say anything about that because we have no connection with Mr. Matobato),” Bersamin said when sought for comment on the New York Times report.
“Whatever is his purpose in going out, we cannot control that. But if he intends to testify in another forum, that’s also beyond our control. Hindi namin siya ini-encourage, hindi rin namin siya dini-discourage (Whatever is his purpose in going out [of the country], we cannot control that. But if he intends to testify in another forum, that’s also beyond our control. We are neither encouraging nor discouraging him),” he added.
The Bureau of Immigration said it would investigate how Matobato and his family were able to leave the country using new identities.
It was unclear in the New York Times report who provided Matobato and his family with their new passports and how they were able to get through the scrutiny of immigration officials.
The former DDS member was quoted in the report as saying that while he had been waiting for years to testify before the ICC, he is not planning on seeking immunity in exchange for his testimony.
Another self-confessed hitman, Arturo Lascañas, has been reported to have already obtained immunity from prosecution for testifying before the international court. – With Jocelyn Montemayor
