Paolo Duterte: All hearsay from a madman

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Presidential son and Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte said yesterday he would not dignify the statement of a self-confessed member of the Davao Death Squad that he is using drugs and that President Duterte formed the DDS to kill suspected criminals.

In yesterday’s hearing of the Senate committee on justice chaired by Sen. Leila de Lima, Edgar Matobato said he was a member of the DDS and was also part of the security group of the Duterte family even when the vice mayor was still a youngster.

Matobato also said the presidential son took drugs and was friends with Chinese drug lords.

“I have been a security escort of Paolo Duterte since he was young... He has long been using drugs, ever since he was young… He would sometimes go wild when he’s high on drugs,” Matobato said in Filipino.

The vice mayor dismissed this as hearsay.

“What De Lima and this certain Matobato say in public are bare allegations and in the absence of proof are mere hearsay. I will not dignify with an answer the accusations of a madman,” Vice Mayor Duterte said in a statement.

The vice mayor also belied Matobato’s claim that he had escorted the younger Duterte at the Ateneo de Davao University when the presidential son attended Philippine Women’s University.

Presidential sister Jocelyn Duterte also denied Matobato’s statement that the President ordered the killing of a dance instructor who happened to be her ex-boyfriend.

“I am a private individual and all the witness said at the Senate hearing is not true,” the presidential sister said in an interview over Bombo Radyo-Davao.