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ENHANCED MOBILITY VOL. XXX • NO. 216 • 5 SECTIONS 28 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Hitman: Du30 gave kill orders By Macon Ramos-Araneta
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SELF-CONFESSED hitman of the Davao Death Squad told a Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the killing of thousands of criminals and suspects when he was still Davao City mayor.
CLAIMS DENIED. Edgar Matobato, who claims to be a former member of the feared Davao Death Squad, takes his oath at the resumption Thursday of the hearing of the Senate committee on justice and human rights then drops a bombshell, accusing then Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte of ordering the bombing of a mosque in 1993 and the killing of Muslims—denied at breakneck speed by Malacanang, PNP chief Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. Lino Santos
Testifying for the first time, witness Edgar Bernal Matobato, 57, also revealed to the Senate justice and human rights committee chaired by Senator Leila de Lima that Duterte personally gave them the orders for the killings, abductions and assassinations. “They were killed like chickens even without reason,” said Matobato, who detailed several instances when Duterte ordered them to execute people. Duterte shot dead a Justice Department employee and ordered the murder of opponents, Matobato said. He said he and a group of policemen and Next page
Rody’s men: Old lies revived By John Paolo Bencito, Rey E. Requejo THE Palace on Thursday defended President Rodrigo Duterte against accusations that he was behind vigilante killings in Davao City when he was still mayor there, saying the witness presented at a Sen-
ate hearing on extrajudicial killings didn’t have enough evidence to prove his allegations. “Didn’t the Commission on Human Rights investigate that already when the President was still the mayor of Davao City?” said Communications Secretary Martin Andanar in Next page
Nograles, Alvarez assail witness Envoy: UNHCR erred on kill order By Maricel V. Cruz THE Philippines’ permanent representative to the United Nations defended President Rodrigo Duterte in Geneva amid criticisms from the chief of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, saying Duterte did not issue any “shoot-to-kill” order against drug suspects. During the second day of the 33rd Session of the Human Rights Council in response to Al Hussein’s Next page
FORMER speaker Prospero Nograles on Thursday denied claims by confessed Davao Death Squad member Edgar Matobato that four of his bodyguards had been summarily executed by vigilantes in Davao City. “As far as I know, there’s not a single incident in which any of my staff or security personnel who were assigned to me while I was
still in politics was killed, even when I ran for mayor in 2010. They are all still alive,” he said in a statement. Nograles added that Matobato could have asked for his protection while he was still speaker but he did not. Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, the former speaker’s son, said he does not know anything about Matobato’s revelations before the Senate inquiry on extrajudicial Next page killings.
By Macon Araneta and Pearl Gajunera SEVERAL senators expressed doubt at the credibility of supposed hitman Edgar Bernal Matobato with Senator Panfilo Lacson likening him to former whistleblower Angelo Mawanay who accused him of corruption and other crimes, but eventually recanted his claims. “As an expert investigator, Edgar Matobato is not a credible witness,” said Lacson, a Next page
Duterte son: Mere hearsay By Funny Pearl A. Gajunera Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte
‘Word war’ erupts over LP, witness
Boo-boos spur Palace petition
SENATOR Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday engaged Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in a word war in the Senate over the credibility of a self-confessed hitman of the Davao Death Squad in Davao City. He clashed with Trillanes to defend President Rodrigo Duterte from what he described as a “demolition job.” Cayetano insisted he wanted to test the credibility of witness Edgar Matobato to prove that he was part of the demolition job or Plan B of the Liberal Party to grab the presidency from Duterte and replace him with
AFTER a series of communication mishaps, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Thursday said he appealed to other Cabinet members to let Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella clarify the statements made by President Rodrigo Next page Duterte.
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DDS man’s credibility in question —Lacson
DAVAO CITY—Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and his aunt Jocelyn Duterte both denied the allegations of Senate witness Edgar Matobato, who said Paolo, the oldest son of President Rodrigo Duterte, was behind the killing of hotelier Richard King and was involved in other illegal activities. In the absence of proof, the vice mayor said, all allegations against him should be considered as hearsay. “What [Senator Leila] de Lima and this certain Matobato say in public are bare allegations and mere hearsay. I will not dignify the accusations of a madman with an answer,” he said. Next page
Australia duns PH on ruling TIME-SLOT CLASH. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, President Rodrigo Duterte’s ally, is in his groove Thursday heaving questions during a Senate committee hearing at an alleged former member of the Davao Death Squad before Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (left) interrupts him in protest—prompting the time-slot heated clash between the two erstwhile vice presidential contenders. Lino Santos twitter.com/ MlaStandard
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AUSTRALIAN Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Wednesday questioned President Rodrigo Duterte over his decision not to enforce the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejecting China’s
claims over most of the South China Sea. She said that was despite the fact that it was the Philippines that initiated the case against
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