Davao City Rep. Nograles: Death squads didn't kill bodyguards in 2010

Davao City Rep. Karlo Norgrales denied on Thursday the claims of Edgar Matobato that members of the Davao Death Squad kidnapped and killed bodyguards of his father in 2010.

“I don't know what this guy is talking about,” Nograles said in a statement, adding that none of their supporters and employees were killed by the DDS because of politics.

“From the time I was chief-of-staff of former Speaker Prospero C. Nograles to the time I was elected as congressman, no supporter of ours or persons under our employ was ever killed due to politics,” Nograles added.

Matobato claimed in his testimony at the Senate probe on extrajudicial killings that death squad members kidnapped and killed four bodyguards of the elder Nograles when he ran against President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter Sara for the mayoralty of Davao City in 2010. 

“Noong 2010, tumakbo po si Prospero Nograles na mayor ng Davao City. Naglaban sila ni Mayor Duterte so hinuli nila at pinakidnap ang mga bodyguard ni Nograles. Kinidnap namin at dinala sa island city of Samal,”Matobato said.

During the Senate hearing, Matobato claimed he carried the bodies and dumped them to the sea.

“Ako ang nagbuhat, isa-isa ko binuhat. Nilagay sa buhangin at binigti lahat. Pagkatapos, biniyak namin ‘yung tiyan tapos ako ang nagkarga ng bangka doon sa laot. Tinapon namin. Nilagyan ng hollow blocks, tig tatlo kada isang tao,” he said.

The elder Nograles lost to Sara Duterte.

Rep. Nograles, meanwhile, described the divide between his family and the Dutertes as a difference in policy.

“Political differences in our city has always been strictly on the level of difference in policy and style and it has never degraded into the level of violence. That is why it is easy for us to set aside our differences and unite for the common good of Davao and the nation,” Nograles said.

Nograles said only the interests of other parties can push Matobato to appear in the Senate hearing.

“I can only suspect that this guy is being manipulated by some people to only serve their own selfish interests,” he said. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/JST, GMA News