De Lima’s committee to protect Matobato

Edgar Matobato, confessed member of the Davao Death Squad, takes his oath before the Senate committee on justice and human rights, prior to testifying Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. RICHARD REYES / PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

The Senate committee on justice and human rights will give protective custody to confessed hit man Edgar Matobato even if the panel itself has to foot the bill for keeping the killer from the Davao Death Squad (DDS) alive, Sen. Franklin Drilon said Saturday.

Drilon said the committee’s power to grant protective custody to Matobato could not be vetoed by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, who had rejected a request for Senate protection for the hit man.

“The Senate has a tradition of giving protective custody to a witness in the Senate. That is firmly in the power of the committee to give,” Drilon said.

Pimentel on Thursday turned down the request of Sen. Leila de Lima, the committee chair, to provide protective custody to Matobato, whom she presented as witness during a hearing to establish similarities between the extrajudicial killings attributed to the DDS when President Duterte was still mayor of Davao City and the extrajudicial killings across the Philippines in Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs.

The president of Mr. Duterte’s party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Pimentel said there was no proof that Matobato’s life was in danger.

He said Matobato’s testimony had no bearing on the committee’s inquiry into the extrajudicial killings, and the Senate had no rules to justify giving protection to Matobato.

As a result, De Lima withdrew her request, saying the committee would take care of protecting Matobato.

Outside Pimentel’s reach

Drilon said as Senate President, Pimentel had full discretion on whether to allow Matobato to use the Senate as his sanctuary because its properties were under his control.

“But the committee also has the power to grant protective custody to its witnesses outside the Senate press. That is a committee power [that] the Senate President cannot veto,” he said.

Until the committee has submitted its report to the plenary, Drilon said it could act independently outside of the reach of the Senate President.

“By tradition, the indolence of the committee is recognized. Under our Constitution, a committee has the power to investigate,” he said.

Drilon said De Lima would likely dip into the funds allotted to her committee to  protect Matobato.

Too early to judge

He said it was too early to determine whether Matobato’s testimony was true.

“This is just an initial testimony and we need to continue to hear him out. If what he is saying is untrue, we will prove that in the course of the hearing. But we should not declare that all of his testimony is false. Right now, we should be more careful in judging him, we should not jump into any conclusion,” Drilon said.

He cautioned against dismissing the accusations thrown  by Matobato at Mr. Duterte and his family, especially since these were “serious allegations.”

Matobato testified that the DDS killed about 1,000 people on orders from Mr. Duterte when he was still mayor of Davao City.

He said those slain were suspected criminals and opponents of Mr. Duterte and his family.

Matobato also said he was responsible for about 50 of the deadly attacks, including the assault on a man whom the squad fed alive to a crocodile.

Scripted testimony?

The Philippine National Police chief, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, said on Friday that he believed Matobato’s testimony was scripted.

“He has lumped us all together, from the President to the President’s son to the Chief PNP to the director of the [National Bureau of Investigation]. He wants to implicate us all by saying a lot of things,” Dela Rosa told reporters in Naga City.

Dela Rosa, who attended the hearing where Matobato testified, also questioned the timing of the hit man’s testimony.

He also observed inconsistencies in Matobato’s testimony, which he said came out under questioning by Senators Panfilo Lacson, Vicente Sotto III and Sherwin Gatchalian.

“He said many false statements. He said that I was the one who gave the go-signal to kill an alleged foreign terrorist. I asked him to look at me in the eyes and look at each other eye to eye to know who is lying,” he said.

“I was surprised. I really don’t know him. When Senator De Lima said his name was Edgar Matobato, that was the only time I get to know that he was the one,” he added.

King murder

Dela Rosa said he doubted Matobato’s testimony that Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, a son of the President, ordered the killing of hotelier Richard King.

“The case has already been solved. The two gunmen had confessed and the case had been filed. The mastermind, an official, is now in prison,” he said.

He said Paolo Duterte could not have ordered the hit on King because of a feud over a woman.

“If you see the woman, she is already old. How can Polong take interest in her? So many inconsistencies,” he said.

Matobato said a priest from a seminary in San Fabian in Pangasinan province had encouraged him to testify in the Senate, but as of yesterday morning Fr. Oliver Mendoza, rector of  Mary Help of Christians Theological Seminary in the town, had not return calls for comment. With reports from Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon; and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

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