The other side of Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte

Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte. RTVM FILE PHOTO

Whether it is killings, drugs and smuggling, Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte has done it all, said confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, who detailed the Dutertes’ alleged involvement in murders in Davao City for over 20 years.

“Paolo Duterte has ordered for people to get killed. They are like sadists,” said Matobato, drawing a deep breath as he spoke.

“He has ordered so many killings. Ganyan yon parang sabog (He is like that, like he’s high). He goes to our office and orders us to kill people,” he added.

“Parang manok ang tao sa Davao City. Pinapatay nang walang dahilan (People are treated like chickens in Davao City. They are killed for no reason),” Matobato said.
Testifying before the Senate committee on justice and human rights, Matobato said the younger Duterte had ordered killings of several people at whim, including the June 2014 killing of billionaire businessman Richard King and others with whom he had brushes on the road.

“They had a rivalry over a woman,” said Matobato, a confessed member of the notorious Davao Death Squad for two decades.

“It was Paolo Duterte who ordered that (King’s murder). Rebel returnees were the ones that hit him. They were given P500,000, but they were double crossed by the police officers in our group,” he said.

He said police officers led by Senior Police Officer 4 Arthur Lascañas, who he described as the DDS team leader, abducted the two hitmen and also took their lives after they had killed King.

Matobato recalled two other kill missions that the younger Duterte ordered, both just because the President’s son had verbal tussles with the victims while on the road.

One incident allegedly got Paolo Duterte’s ire for saying unsavory words—he just could not properly translate the line from Visaya. He said his team of eight men went to the man’s house to kill him, ending up killing two more who had tried to shield the man from them.

In another incident, the younger Duterte allegedly ordered the killing of someone he had a disagreement with at a gas station.

“He just got angry and called us. We went there to kill the man, we didn’t know why. They usually order us to kill people and we don’t even know their names,” Matobato said.

“A gun was planted on him, but he did not really resist, he didn’t have a gun. In Davao operations, we usually plant guns as evidence [to make it appear victim the victim resisted,” he added.

Matobato, who served as security escort for the Vice Mayor as he was growing up also alleged that the Vice Mayor abused illegal drugs, and that he was friends with Chinese drug traders in Davao City.

“As far as I know, he uses illegal drugs… He uses drugs but he does not do drug pushing,” said the witness, under the questioning of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

He claimed that Duterte’s drug of choice is shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), one of the most prevalent illegal drugs in the country.

“Parang lulong sa droga si Paolo. Minsan nagwawala yan basta sabog yan (It’s like Paolo is high on drugs… Sometimes he would ran amok when he’s high),” Matobato said.

“As far as I know there are Chinese drug lords (in Davao City) who are friends of Paolo Duterte… They would go drinking together, we’d see them sometimes. I don’t know their names, but they were always together in bars,” he said.

The senator noted the irony, as President Duterte has several times said he hates drugs and has waged a fierce campaign against drug users and pushers.

“He is the son of a President who is waging a determined war on

drugs… Unfortunately, other addicts are immediately killed, but here is Paolo Duterte, the Vice Mayor of Davao City,” Trillanes said.

Matobato also tagged Duterte in smuggling operations in Davao City, saying he had once delivered P3 million in payola for customs officers for the Vice Mayor at the Sasa Wharf in 2013.

“[President Duterte] is angry at smugglers but he doesn’t know that his son handles smuggling rice and oil in Davao City,” said Matobato.