Edgar Matobato, a member of the Davao Death Squad, appeared at the Senate probe on alleged extrajudicial killings. PDI Photo / Lyn Rillon
The testimony of professed hitman Edgar Matobato before the Senate last week sounded more like science fiction than real life, a congressman said on Monday.
Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert “Ace” Barbers said Matobato seemed to project himself like a superhero for claiming to kill 1,000 people as a confessed hitman of the “Davao Death Squad” (DDS).
Senator Leila De Lima presented Matobato last week as a witness who testified during the Senate inquiry that he acted upon the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte to kill the latter’s critics and rivals when he was Davao City mayor.
The chairman of the House of Representatives dangerous drugs committee, Barbers noted the inconsistencies in Matobato’s testimony, including that of killing 1,000 criminals, which he found impossible and unimaginable.
But it was the DDS that was allegedly responsible for 1,000 deaths in Davao City. Matobato testified that he himself carried out about 50 of the abductions and killings, including that of a suspected kidnapper whom they fed alive to a crocodile.
READ: SUMMARY: Allegations of ‘DDS’ member in Senate hearing | ‘Duterte ordered us to kill’
“Si Matobato, parang nakabato. Obyus na obyus ang kaniyang inconsistencies… Isa lang dun ang unimaginable crime of killing 1,000 people. Parang in his lifetime, may napatay siya araw-araw. Parang napaka-imposible,” Barbers said.
(Matobato seems stoned. His inconsistencies are very obvious… one of those is the unimaginable crime of killing 1,000 people. It’s as if in his lifetime, he kills everyday. It’s impossible.)
Barbers said Matobato’s testimony of killing criminals sounded like he has superhero powers.
“Itong testament ni Matobato, walang pinagkaiba sa sci-fi. Talo pa niya ang superhero sa sobrang dami na pinatay. Kung gagawa sila ng script, dapat kapani-paniwala. Kung gagawa ka ng movie, ‘yung true to life, hindi science fiction,” Barbers said.
(Matobato’s testament is like sci-fi. He surpasses superheroes in the way that he has killed so many people. If they make a script, it should be believable. If you make a movie, it should be true to life, not science fiction.)
Deputy speaker Palawan Rep. Frederick Abueg said Matobato should be considered one of the country’s serial killers.
“If he’s saying nakapatay na siya ng 1,000 na tao, edi he would be considered as one of the Philippines’ serial killers,” Abueg said.
(If he’s saying he killed 1,000 people, he would be considered as one of the Philippines’ serial killers.)
Abueg added that he doubted Matobato’s credibility, having emerged only now when he was a state witness way back 2014.
Deputy speaker South Cotabato Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez also doubted the credibility of Matobato’s testimony at a Senate hearing which was supposed to tackle extrajudicial killings during the present administration and not when Duterte was Davao City mayor.
“His testimony, I think, has no relation with the topic of extrajudicial killing, because it’s not related to the present. He’s pointing to the President when he was mayor. It has no relation to the present situation,” Hernandez said.
“It’s an issue of credibility, if you have a lot of inconsistencies, if you can’t answer the questions in relation to your testimony,” he added.
The House on Tuesday will lead an investigation into the proliferation of drugs at the New Bilibid Prison when De Lima was justice secretary.
The House investigation into the alleged Bilibid drug trade was prompted by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s House Resolution 105 which sought an investigation into the proliferation of drug syndicates at the New Bilibid Prison during the term of De Lima as justice secretary. Alvarez is a close ally of the President.
House leaders denied that the congressional probe would be a scripted demolition job against De Lima as a reprisal for her investigation on extrajudicial killings.
READ: De Lima in for a surprise, Alvarez says of House Bilibid probe | No ‘moro-moro’ in House probe of Bilibid drug trade — solons
President Duterte had tagged De Lima in a drug matrix and accused her of earning from the Bilibid drug trade, an allegation De Lima had vehemently denied.
READ: Duterte matrix out; tags De Lima, ex-Pangasinan gov, others | De Lima calls matrix linking her to drugs trade ‘rubbish’
De Lima as a former human rights commissioner had investigated Duterte when he was Davao City mayor for his links to the DDS, allegedly responsible for the vigilante killings of suspected criminals in Davao City.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has said high-profile inmates and high-rank government officials would testify against De Lima for allegedly receiving drug kickbacks through her lover and driver Ronnie Dayan.
Aguirre has named robbery and drug dealer convict Herbert Colangco and National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Rafael Ragos as among the high-ranking witnesses to testify against De Lima. JE/rga
READ: Inmate Colangco to testify vs De Lima in House drug probe | NBI deputy director to testify vs De Lima — Aguirre