Edgar Matobato. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
A confessed assassin Edgar Matobato returned to the witness stand on Thursday, exactly a week after he first testified at the ongoing Senate probe on the alleged spate of extrajudicial killings in the country.
Matobato appeared without a counsel when he appeared at the resumption of the hearing of the Senate committees on justice and human rights, and public order.
READ: IN THE KNOW: Edgar Matobato
He also refused to avail of a lawyer when Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the justice committee, asked if he needs one.
“I was informed that ayaw mo raw magkaroon ng abogado (you don’t want to avail of a lawyer)? Tama ba yun (Is that right)?” Gordon asked to which the witness answered “yes.”
“In other words, nagpunta ka dito sa sariling kusa at tinatanong kita kailangan mo ba ng abogado (you went here voluntarily and I’m asking you if you need a lawyer)?” the senator asked again.
“Hindi na (Not necessary), Sir,” Matobato said.
But Senator Panfilo Lacson inquired whether or not it was the committee’s responsibility to provide its witness a lawyer.
Gordon suspended the hearing for a few minutes and when it resumed, the committee named a lawyer from the Senate legal service, who would assist Matobato.
The witness was first presented by Senator Leila de Lima during the hearing of the Senate committees on justice and human rights, and public order last September 15.
De Lima was still then the chair of the justice committee until she was ousted last Monday and replaced by Gordon. She remains a member of the committee.
Matobato, who claimed to be a member of the Davao Death Squad, earlier accused then Davao City Mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte of allegedly ordering the death squad to kill criminals and enemies. RAM/rga
READ: Duterte ordered us to bomb mosque, kill Muslims–‘DDS’ member