DOJ chief: Witness coached by De Lima

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II downplayed yesterday the testimony of a self-confessed former member of the Davao death squads (DDS) who linked President Duterte to killings in Davao City, saying that the witness was coached to pin down the Chief Executive.

Aguirre said the testimony of alleged DDS member Edgar Matobato was all lies and an old story revived by Sen. Leila de Lima in a desperate move to divert public attention from her alleged links to the illegal drug trade in the national penitentiary.

“The statements of Matobato are all lies, fabrications and have no credibility simply because there is no corroborating evidence. This is what we call lying and coached witness,” Aguirre explained in a phone interview.

“It can only be the product of a fertile and coached imagination.”

He revealed that Matobato used to be under the witness protection program of the Department of Justice (DOJ) from 2013 until De Lima left the agency to run for senator.

“If you can recall, De Lima repeatedly said that they had a witness to directly link Duterte to the death squad. But why was he not made public and why was the case not pursued? Because obviously there’s no truth to his claims,” he commented.

Aguirre also questioned why De Lima, chairman of the Senate justice committee, brought Matobato out at this time when she is facing investigation on her alleged involvement in illegal drugs trade in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City during her tenure as justice secretary.

“Is it because she knows there will be explosive evidence linking her in the Bilibid drug trade? Is she trying to cushion our witnesses?” he asked.

“These are desperate times for De Lima that’s why she needs desperate solution.”

The DOJ chief also questioned the claim of De Lima that Matobato has not executed any affidavit yet on his allegations, saying it would have not been possible for the witness to be covered by WPP if he did not submit a sworn statement to the DOJ.

Aguirre stressed that the allegation against Duterte being behind the DDS was pursued by De Lima when she was still chair of the Commission on Human Rights in 2009 and also when she was head of the DOJ in the previous administration.

“It’s an old issue that De Lima persistently pursued way back when she was still CHR chair and where the bad blood with President Duterte actually started. There’s really no evidence because if there is any, a case should have been filed in court by this time,” he explained.

“Senator De Lima had six years to file any case she deems worthy to be filed. The question that begs asking is why pursue this only now when there will be a House of Representatives’ hearing on Bilibid drugs proliferation,” he said.

Aguirre bared that he even served as a lawyer for Davao police official Benjamin Laud, who was accused of being a member of the DDS that provided a mass grave for criminals they allegedly killed.

He recalled that several bones were indeed recovered from Laud’s property, but stressed that the CHR did not have evidence to prove that they belonged to victims of DDS and so no case was filed in court then.

Aguirre said he would consider asking the National Bureau of Investigation to look into Matobato’s statements made before the Senate inquiry and also check if he could again qualify for WPP coverage as discussed by senators in the hearing.

“Mr. Matobato stated that he did not execute an affidavit containing what he stated before the hearing. One cannot be part of the WWP without executing an affidavit. He is obviously not telling the truth. Can he be trusted?” Aguirre added.

“I personnaly know what happened to the case of Benjamin Laud since 2009 because I lawyered for him, I was there when the Commission on Human Rights, then headed by Senator De Lima, ordered the bodies of the alleged victims of extrajudicial killings be exhumed at Laud’s firing range in Maa, Davao.

“The bodies did not prove anything. As a matter of fact, there were statements that they were bodies of people who were executed during the Japanese occupation,” Aguirre said.

“Also, think about this, Senator De Lima headed both the CHR and the Department of Justice, why was it that there was no case filed against Mayor Duterte? Senator De Lima had more than six years to file any case she deems worthy to file,” said Aguirre. With Rudy Santos