Edgar Matobato. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
For fear of his life, confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) member Edgar Matobato on Monday sought the Supreme Court’s protection from President Rodrigo Duterte.
In his motion, he asked the high court to order the transfer of his criminal case from Davao City, Duterte’s hometown, to Manila.
Matobato is facing a case for violation of illegal possession of firearms before the Davao City Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 3. He also asked the high court’s Office of the Court Administrator (OCAD) to cancel his arraignment scheduled for Nov. 3 while his petition to transfer the venue of his case is still pending.
READ: Court orders arrest of Matobato
Matobato testified before the Senate committee on justice about how Duterte ordered the killings of criminals in Davao when he was the city mayor.
“The fact that President Rodrigo R. Duterte is the prime target of his [Matobato’s] expose makes the scenario even more terrifying. This is not to mention the fact that Matobato’s former comrades are policemen based in Davao City who are capable of mounting an attack on him in a covert manner,” Matobato, through counsel Atty. Jude Josue L. Sabio, said in their motion filed before the high court’s OCAD.
In his motion, he said if Duterte was able to order the death of his former friend, journalist Jun Pala, “it is with more reason that he would have the ultimate motive to kill Matobato who also knew the same criminal activities and testified frontally about said activities.”
READ: ‘Duterte ordered us to kill’
“If all his [Duterte] admissions are taken together in conjunction with Matobato’s firsthand account…it can be safely opined that President Rodrigo Duterte is a confirmed killer, if not a serial killer, mass murderer or psychopath,” the motion stated.
He also added that Matobato’s former comrades in the DDS are already in Manila “judging from the style of executions with which he is very familiar,” Sabio said. RAM/rga