Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Thursday doubted the credibility of a witness who testified before the Senate on the alleged involvement of President Rodrigo Duterte in extrajudicial killings when he was mayor of Davao City.
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Photo courtesy of www.newstribune.com |
Speaking to reporters, Aguirre said the testimony of Edgar Matobato, an alleged member of the Davao Death Squad, was pure hogwash.
For one, Aguirre questioned why Matobato was not able to execute an affidavit linking Duterte to vigilante killings when he was under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice for three years.
"He's a coached witness. He's a lying witness. Hindi totoo 'yan. Sabi niya wala daw siyang in-execute na affidavit tungkol dun sa pinagsasabi niya. Imposibleng mangyari yun. He has been under the care of the Witness Protection Program since 2013 under [Senator Leila] De Lima. He could not be entered sa WPP without you executing an affidavit," he said.
Aguirre also dismissed Matobato's claim that he only volunteered to testify at the Senate investigation led by De Lima, a former justice secretary and staunch critic of the President.
The Justice chief said he could only attribute the latest wave of accusations against the President to De Lima's supposed attempt to divert public attention from allegations of her involvement in the illegal drug trade.
Matobato claimed to have worked as an assassin for Duterte, who allegedly ordered the bombing of mosques in retaliation for the bombing of the Davao Cathedral in 1993 and even attempted to kill De Lima who launched an investigation into the DDS in 2009 when she was Commission on Human Rights chairperson.
The 57-year-old former CAFGU also linked Duterte's son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, to the killing of businessman Richard King in 2014 and other illegal activities such as smuggling.
Matobato reportedly left the WPP custody when Duterte won the presidency by a landslide in May, forcing the DOJ at that time to terminate its investigation on the vigilante squad, which is allegedly responsible for the killings of more than 1,000 people since the late 1990s.
Source: GMA News Online
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