Senate panel may recommend raps vs Matobato

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate committee on justice may recommend the filing of perjury and possibly murder charges against self-confessed hit man Edgar Matobato in its final report on the inquiry into extrajudicial killings in the country, Sen. Richard Gordon said yesterday.

Gordon, chairman of the committee, told reporters some officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) would also be held accountable for extrajudicial killings in the report, but he declined to give details.

He said the panel has finished the first draft of its report, which is set for release to the plenary tomorrow.

The inquiry, conducted together with the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, wrapped up last week after six public hearings.

Matobato, who claimed to be a member of the Davao death squad (DDS), last month testified before the committee that President Duterte ordered the killing of over 1,000 suspected criminals and opponents from 1988 to 2013 when he was mayor of Davao City.

“He (Matobato) may be charged with perjury at the least. And at the most we might look for murder charges against him because he admitted (to the killings),” Gordon said.

He maintained that Matobato’s testimonies “could not be trusted because of his so many lies, changing statements.”

He said it was unfortunate that Matobato was not assisted by a lawyer when he testified in the Senate.

The senator indicated that several police officials will have a lot to answer for, with over 2,000 cases of deaths under investigation, the PNP’s euphemism for the extrajudicial killings, from July 1 to Oct. 10 this year.

“The PNP really has a big deficiency, really big, they’ll be hit there,” he said.

He said he has evidence to show that many police officers were involved in extrajudicial killings to cover up their links to illegal drugs after President Duterte named five PNP narco-generals.

Gordon reiterated there is no evidence to show that the DDS exists, and that President Duterte was behind the extrajudicial killings.

He said the report would also try to put into context the recent spate of killings by including statistics on extrajudicial killings from 2010 to the middle of this year.

“Definitely there are many killings that are not being solved. And that now appears to be the trend because the President is noisy. There’ll be a statement (in the report) that in effect is cautioning him,” the senator said.

He said Duterte’s strong language against drug pushers has already caught the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Meanwhile, the Palace said it is eagerly awaiting the findings of Gordon’s committee, which is likely to absolve the President of links to summary killings based on the senator’s own pronouncements.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Gordon declared over the weekend that Duterte cannot be held liable for the killings and that the committee hopes to submit the report on its inquiry within the week.

“That is a statement that they made, that the President is not directly involved in any of these,” he said.

The Palace made the statement after Duterte told Al Jazeera TV that he could not do anything about the reported summary executions in the Philippines as he is not God and has no control over how people would respond to his call for a stop to illegal drugs.

He stressed he doesn’t care what human rights advocates say about the conduct of his war on drugs. – Christina Mendez