Self-confessed former Duterte hitman makes 'last' admission, flees PH
Edgar Matobato, a confessed hitman who claims to have been part of the Davao Death Squad, has left the Philippines after going into hiding for years.
The 65-year-old made his "last confession" in an interview with the New York Times, detailing how he "killed and disposed of many bodies" as part of the death squad under former Davao City mayor and ex-President Rodrigo Duterte.
"For almost 24 years, I killed for Duterte—24 years, 24 years," he told the news outlet. "I will face what I did. But Duterte, he must be punished by the court and by God."
He said he killed more than 50 people for "Superman," taking home salary from City Hall of about P5,800 and "receiving envelopes of cash for successful hits."
The graphic piece, written by Bangkok-based American journalist Hannah Beech, also included Matobato describing an incident of cannibalism and a gang rape that occurred in 2013.
Matobato was able to leave the Philippines alongside two Catholic priests who negotiated his escape from the country. Two other members of the Davao Death Squad had also fled overseas, as per the NYT.
He also told the New York-based outfit about how Duterte critic former Sen. Leila de Lima was on the hit list.
De Lima, former chair of the Commission on Human Rights, with her team, dug up human bones from a "mass grave" inside the Laud quarry in Barangay Ma-a.
“We waited, but she never came,” Matobato said. “We failed in our mission.”
In September 2016, Matobato testified before the Senate committee on justice and human rights' probe into deaths linked to Duterte's war on drugs. He said he saw Duterte shoot a man with an Uzi submachine gun during his time as mayor. Duterte later said that he did not personally know the self-confessed hitman in an ambush interview.
His supposed handler, former SPO3 Arturo Lascañas, who previously denied Matobato's claims, would later admit that most of what he told the Senate was true in February 2017.
On Jan. 6, de Lima shared the New York Times article, noting how it "takes extraordinary resolve" to confess one's crimes to the world.
"It's a sad reality that most Filipinos do not yet fully realize the gravity and monstrosity of a Filipino President ordering the killing of more than 20,000 of his fellow Filipinos, and his continued impunity,' she wrote on X.
Duterte admits to the existence of a death squad
In October 2024, Duterte admitted to having a death squad, which was composed of "gangsters," not police officers. He said "thousands" were killed and that they were "criminals."
He also said he would "take full legal responsibility" for whatever happened during the drug war.
Upon assuming office in 2016, the Duterte administration launched its flagship bloody war on drugs called Oplan Tokhang, which saw the execution of thousands of suspected drug peddlers, users, and small-time criminals.
Based on the government's "Real Numbers" data, a total of 6,229 individuals were killed during anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016, to Jan. 31, 2022.
Rights groups, however, estimated that the number of deaths from the bloody anti-narcotics campaign reached as high as 27,000.
The killings soon caught the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and ordered a probe into the war on drugs.
