Witness says Philippine president ordered killings of 1000

The alleged violations that resulted from the alarming increase of extra-judicial killing of suspects in the war on drugs ordered by Duterte when he took his oath as the country’s 16th president on June 30.

According to Reuters, Matobato claims to be a member of the “Davao death squad” that has killed hundreds of suspected criminals “like chickens, chopped up their bodies, and even fed one man to a crocodile”.

Under Duterte, Davao transformed from a crime ridden hovel to a peaceful and investment-friendly city, where he imposed bans on public smoking, and the selling of alcohol and the operation of entertainment spots past midnight.

During a regularly scheduled press conference Thursday, Duterte’s communications secretary denied the claims.

Activists protest the alleged extrajudicial killings of drug addicts in the Philippines under the recently elected Duterte.

They are saying I’m part of a death squad.

Mr Duterte has rejected the criticism, questioning the right of the United Nations, the United States and Mr Obama to raise human rights issues when USA forces, for example, had massacred Muslims in the country’s south in the early 1900s as part of a pacification campaign.

Matobato testified the death squad started out as a “liquidation squad” called “Lambada Boys”, which he said was formed by Duterte.

Reports have linked Duterte and the police force in Davao to the summary executions of alleged drug dealers, petty criminals and even street children. “We killed people nearly on a daily basis”, he said. Matobato described the gruesome killing that he himself supposedly carried out. He says the killings ran from 1988 to 2013. Its members consisted of former rebels and police.

Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of the southern city of Davao at the time, then arrived on the scene, Mr Matobato said. “These are the kind we killed every day”, Matobato said.

Matobato mentioned during the hearing that a certain Sali Makdum, a suspected terrorist, was killed by the DDS in 2002.

Mr. Matobato also accused the younger Mr. Duterte of ordering the 2014 murder of Cebu hotelier Richard King, supposedly because of rivalry over a woman. Another was a radio commentator, Jun Pala, who was critical of Mr Duterte and was killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen while walking home in 2003.

“President Duterte can’t be expected to investigate himself, so it is crucial that the United Nations is called in to lead such an effort”, he said. The two gunmen were also later killed, again supposedly on the Vice-Mayor’s orders.

One was a local broadcaster who constantly criticised Duterte, four were bodyguards of a local rival, while two were enemies of Duterte’s son Paolo, who is now Davao vice mayor, Matobato said.

“That’s the kind of people what we kill everyday”, Matobato said.

Matobato’s allegations were immediately rubbished by Malacanang, while several others, such as Nograles’ son Karlo Alexie, issued statements suggesting the man’s testimony could have been fabricated. They are mere hearsay. “So we stayed there waiting for you, but you did not went up and just stayed at the entrance, so we just stayed there and waited”, he said. The existence of Davao death squads has never been proven.

He said he had gone from a witness protection programme into hiding because he feared for his life.

Acknowledging for the first time that he may not be able to keep his campaign promise to eradicate illegal drugs in no more than six months, President Rodrigo Duterte said in jest that with the huge number of people involved, “even if I wanted to, I can not kill them all”.