Senate witness deserves protection

By Alfredo C. Garvida Jr.

Edgar Matobato, the grade-one-only educated star witness of Sen. Leila De Lima on her ongoing war with President Rodrigo Duterte, gave a disturbing, graphic view of his past involvement and knowledge of crimes committed during the president's mayoral incumbency in Davao City for more than 20 years. He claims to have been employed by Duterte as a member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) tasked to executing extra-judicially suspected criminals roaming in this largest and most prosperous city in Mindanao. He claimed that more than one thousand criminal suspects had died in the hands of the DDS—upon orders of Mr. Duterte.

At one point, he described how they fed a suspect alive to a crocodile, which made my daughter, who was watching the news with me, almost vomit. Then he related that the President had ordered the murder of his sister's lover some years back because the victim was continuously mulcting his sister. He also revealed that incumbent Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte, the President's son, had ordered the death of a guy over his rivalry with him on a woman. His revelations seemed to be comprehensive, yet he appeared credible if his unfaltering narration of events were our measure to his truthfulness—his very lowly educational attainment notwithstanding. To complete the "morbidity" of Duterte's past dispositions, he said that the president also ordered the bombing of a mosque in Davao City back in 2003.

It is worth noting however that Mr. Matobato admitted that he was not present during the commission of the crime on the sister's lover's death, neither was he present during the murder of Paolo's romantic rival, nor was he at the mosque bombing. His testimony about these events therefore are, as Paolo has correctly labeled, hearsay, and will not hold water in a court of law. But these are disturbing revelations if only in the context of Mr. Duterte's reputation as the Charles Bronson of the Philippines. Charles Bronson played a role in a movie series as a cop who would take the shorter route to justice by killing the criminal instead of giving him his day in court. But Mr. Bronson did not kill his subject for personal reasons, and this is where Mr. Duterte separates from him—if Mr. Matobato's testimony on the President's involvement on the lover boy's murder is true. Then there is this Paolo case; his romantic rival died on Paolo's personal reasons, although the President had nothing to do with it, as the witness admitted.

Clearly, the personally motivated killings, along with the mosque bombing and the crocodile feeding are testified in episodes built by the President's enemies to paint a more comprehensive picture of how callous, unforgiving, bigoted and sadist the President is. It is seen as a calculated move by Ms. De Lima and company to undermine Mr. Duterte's unorthodox and populist approach of dealing with criminals, which catapulted him to the presidency by the way, and which is still endearing him with his people.

Of course Mr. Duterte's boys readily came into the counter attack. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, himself an accused, once upon a time, of extra-judicial killings during his stint with the Philippine National Police as commanding general of the crime-busting Task Force Habagat—highlighted by the infamous Kuratong Baleleng Massacre—had elicited some inconsistencies in Matobato's testimonies when he cross-examined him, but the inconsistencies were minor, in this writer's view, to wipe out entirely the witness' narration of events. Then, Sen. Alan Cayetano, a non-member of the senate hearing committee, bombarded the grade-one-only educated witness with rhetorical questions that not even certain elementary graduates could answer, for the sole purpose of telling the audience that Mr. Matobato's testimony was part of a grand plan by the "yellow" cabal of politicians to oust Mr. Duterte and get Vice President Leni Robredo to take his place so that the Liberal Party would again wrest control of the government. Then, we have House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez proclaiming in advance of a forthcoming House inquiry where top drug personalities now in prison will directly link Ms. De Lima to the drug trade. Then, also came them cabinet members coming in droves to attack this poor witness in defense of Mr. Duterte and obscuring the issue by attacking De Lima's motive. Then there is our bar-topnotcher Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, the president of the PDP, Mr. Duterte's party, who readily dismissed Mr. Matobato's petition for senate protection, as other senate witnesses past, were accorded with.

This writer had called for Ms. De Lima's resignation from the senate in our article three issues back for the simple reason that for having admitted personally her dalliance with a married man, we deemed her unfit to advocate and pursue justice in the senate given the unlawfulness of her relationship with her lover, who was tagged, incidentally also, as the grand bridge between her and the drug bigwigs who were calling their shots inside prison, where they were incarcerated. We are not withdrawing from our call for the lady senator's resignation because Ms. De Lima, in our view, has no ascendancy to talk about justice and lawfulness on account of her adulterous past. But it would seem that for her to leave now would not do justice to all Filipinos in the midst of this disturbing testimony of Mr. Matobato about our President.

Whereas the citizenry is entitled to the truth, it is also of utmost importance to let this inquiry conclude to a legitimate end: because the senate hearing is not a prosecution proceeding but one made in aid of legislation. Therefore, it is beside the point whether the witness is telling the truth or not. What matters is for the senate to listen to testimonies about scenarios that had and could transpire so that congress may make corrective measures to address them if need be.

As it stands today, Mr. Matobato's testimony is pure hearsay—because there are no collaborating testimonies or evidence as yet presented. We may never know if he is a paid witness, but his revelations are extremely disturbing that they have put a heavy dent on our political culture and damaged considerably too our president's reputation. This writer is leaning toward dismissing his testimony as untrue, because it is just his words at this point that I can rely on. The President's honor is on the line, and our national pride and resiliency are under test as well because of this witness' revelations. We ought to go the extra mile to finding out his truthfulness or falsity up to where a legitimate end of this senate inquiry will terminate.

Therefore, we want Mr. Matobato to be kept safe while this inquiry goes on, if only to satisfy my burning desire that my president is innocent from this witness' accusations. Mr. Koko Pimentel's rejection to provide him senate protection, as other witnesses before him had enjoyed, therefore, is incorrect; at best, it smacks of statesmanship-deficiency at his end.