Witness Edgar Matobato during the Senate probe on the alleged extrajudicial killings at the Senate in Pasay City.
INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
A confessed assassin narrated at a Senate hearing on Thursday how President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly emptied two magazines of Uzi to kill an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation when he was still the mayor of Davao City.
Edgar Matobato, who claimed to be a former member the Davao Death Squad, said Duterte himself killed the NBI agent, whom he identified only as a certain “Amisola.” He could not recall when the incident exactly happened although initially, he said, it happened sometime in 1993.
Matobato said he and a certain Major Pabo were conducting an “operation” in Tulip Drive in Barangay Matina when they encountered Amisola, whose vehicle, he said, was blocking the way.
“’Yung sasakyan n’ya (Amisola), ’yung pickup n’ya nakabalagbag sa daanan; hindi kami nakakadaan so bumaba si Major Pabo, sinita n’ya, bakit ‘yan nakabalagbag, bale pinagalitan,” Matobato said, responding to Senator Leila de Lima’s questions during the Senate probe on the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country.
(His pickup was blocking the road; we couldn’t pass through so Major Pabo came up to him and said, why is that blocking the road; he was scolding him.)
Pabo and Amisola, who were both armed, exchanged fire, but killing an NBI agent turned out to be difficult that Duterte had to come and help them kill the victim, the witness said.
“Doon kami natagal, sa pagpatay kay Amisola. Magaling din sa rolling; hindi agad napatay. Pero sa kalaunan, medyo naubusan s’ya ng bala. D’yan na s’ya na corner namin, pero ang tumapos d’yan si Mayor Duterte,” Matobato said.
(That’s where we took a long time in killing Amisola. He was good at rolling; he wasn’t killed instantly. But eventually, he ran out of bullets. We then cornered him, but it was Mayor Duterte who finished him off.)
“Buhay pa rin si Amisola; si Mayor Duterte din ang tumapos. Dalawang magazine ng (Uzi) ang inubos n’ya,” he said.
(Amisola was still alive; it was Mayor Duterte who killed him. He finished two Uzi magazines.)
Asked if he was sure with his testimony, Matobato said yes, adding that about 200 bullets probably went through the victim’s body.
“Siguro mga 200 bullets sa katawan ni Amisola…” he said.
As a member of the death squad, Matobato counted around 50 people whom he said he had killed since he started working for the group from 1988 to 1993.
“Ang daming pinapatay namin pero hindi ko lang natatandaan kung anong buwan, kung anong taon; basta kada taon, ‘yan ang trabaho namin, ma’am,” Matobato said.
(We killed so many people but I don’t remember what month, what year; just every year, that was our job.) JE/rga
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