Duterte: 'I Don't Know Matobato'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte insisted that he doesn’t know the former hitman of the alleged Davao Death Squad, Edgar Matobato.

Matobato accused Duterte of masterminding the killings of criminals in Davao City when was still the mayor there.

Asked if he knew Matobato personally, Duterte answered: “Hindi. I don't remember. Kasi kagaya nito, when I was the mayor, the one providing security, puro pulis.”

Matobato was presented as a witness in the Senate inquiry on extrajudicial killings.

He said that he was part of a group of hitmen called Lambada Boys, which he claimed that was allegedly formed by Duterte.

The Lambada Boys was later known as the Davao Death Squad.

At the senate hearing, Matobato claimed that Duterte had ordered them to kill over 1,000 criminals in Davao when he was a mayor.

He claimed that the president knew him personally and that he met with Duterte when the latter allegedly gives the kill order.

Duterte, when pressed for reaction on the accusations of Matobato, had said that perjury is a serious crime.

The president also called Matobato and Senator Leila De Lima, a staunch critic of the administration, very stupid for claiming that he ordered the killings of the criminals in Davao.

“If some of my rivals die, for whatever reason, it doesn’t really matter who kill them. They would be taken a picture. And then it was made into a folder with so many victims there, victims of crimes against person. All was compiled. So the sum total of these morons is almost 1,007. You are very stupid,” Duterte said.

Moreover, Matobato also accused Duterte’s eldest son, Davao City Mayor Paolo Duterte, to be behind the killing of Cebuano businessman Richard King.

He also said that he was once part of the security detail of the younger Duterte.

The younger Duterte had vehemently denied the allegations of Matobato.

Source: Rappler