De Lima: ‘Highly incomprehensible’ for Senate to deny custody to Matobato

Senator Leila de Lima on Friday criticized Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III for denying protective custody to witness Edgar Matobato, calling the move “highly irregular and incomprehensible.”

In a statement, De Lima said the Senate is Matobato’s “only choice for sanctuary,” after having testified against President Rodrigo Duterte on alleged killings committed during his term as city mayor of Davao.

“No other government agency or office is in a position to provide protective custody to this witness. The circumstances leave no doubt, considering that it is the President who is being accused by the witness, that his security and custody cannot be left to any agency of the Executive Branch, leaving the Senate as his only choice for sanctuary,” De Lima said.

“It is therefore highly irregular and incomprehensible for the Senate to be unable to perform this obligation to a witness whom it has invited on the basis of the vital information only he can provide to an inquiry conducted in aid of legislation,” the senator added.

Hours after the third Senate hearing on drug-related killings Thursday, Pimentel denied the request of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, chaired by De Lima, to grant protection and custody to Matobato.

Pimentel, a close ally of President Duterte, said there was no Senate rule to justify the request, and that there was no indication that his Matobato's life or safety were threatened. 

Following Pimentel’s decision, Matobato left the Senate premises.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who helped in securing the safety of Matobato, said “good samaritans” will provide “temporary sanctuary” for the witness.

De Lima said she was “perplexed, disturbed, and extremely disappointed” with Pimentel’s decision.

She said she will withdraw her committee’s request before Pimentel and instead take the matter up with the members of the Senate panel.

“The grant of protective custody, like the power to cite in contempt, is a Senate power, not a prerogative of the Senate President,” De Lima argued.

“It is my submission that the Committee on Justice and Human Rights as a standing committee of the Senate has the authority to grant protective custody to a witness testifying before it, on behalf of the Senate as a whole,” she said.

De Lima defended the relevance of Matobato’s testimony, saying the latter’s allegations shows that what happened in Davao City is now happening in the country amid the administration’s war on drugs.

“His testimony raises the legitimate question of whether the DDS (Davao Death Squad) has anything to do or is in fact involved in the nationwide War on Drugs, at least insofar as the aspect of extra-judicial and vigilante killings are concerned,” the senator said.

Matobato, an alleged hitman, claimed to be a member of the so-called Davao Death Squad.

He accused President Duterte and his son, Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, of giving orders to the group to have several individuals killed. — VVP, GMA News