Bato maintains: No such thing as Davao Death Squad

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa on Thursday maintained his belief that there is no such thing as the Davao Death Squad, after a Senate hearing featured a supposed member of the group claiming killings it carried out over the past several years.

Dela Rosa, a former police director of Davao City, said his investigations into the matter turned up no results.

“Ilang beses na inimbestigahan yung DDS na sinasabi nila. Creation lang yan ng media pero wala talagang tao na nagsabi na may DDS na isang grupo. Alam ko may vigilante diyan kasi may namamatay nga e and ever since ilang beses ko hinahabol yung vigilante na tinatawag nyo na DDS, ilang beses na hinahamon ko ng barilan dahil ayaw ko yang ginagawa nila na extrajudicial killings,” he said.

Dela Rosa added that he never instructed his men to kill suspects without provocation.

During the hearing, self-confessed assassin Edgar Matobato testified about the killings staged by the DDS, of which he claimed to be a member from 1988 to 2014. He even testified that Dela Rosa, who was then a leader of Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF)-Eastern Mindanao, gave them the go-signal to kill alleged international terrorist Sali Makdum

Dela Rosa said he was surprised that he was being dragged into the issue when he does not personally know Matobato.

“First time ko siya nakita although naririnig ko pangalan n’ya na tirador yang si Matobato. Nandun daw sya sa opisina ko, ako daw nagbigay ng go-signal. Hindi ko nga sya kilala. Yung mga tao na pinagsasabihan n’ya na pulis hindi ko, hindi ko mga tao yun. Hindi yun under sa akin. Wala kaming target na ganung pangalan,” he said.

“Kapag tirador sa Davao mga gun for hire, binabarayan para kumikitil ng buhay sa mga personal na kaso,” he added.

He said if he had known Matobato before, he would had arrested him.

“Kung kilala ko yung mukha na yan matagal ko na hinuli yan at kapag hinuli ko alam ko lalaban yan dahil hitman nga e. matagal na nagkabarilan nyan. Hindi ko nakita yan, first time ngayon nakita ko dito,” he said.

He added that he was no longer with the PAOCTF when the supposed incident happened in 2002.

“Yung year na iyon tapos na PAOCTF nun noong 2001 pa lang, dissolved na kami at ako ay in-assign na sa Catitipan and later on na-assign ako sa national headquarters sa Directorate for Human Resource Doctrine and Development,” he said. —JST, GMA News