Trillanes: I had to switch off Cayetano’s mic because he was out of order

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Friday said he does not regret turning off Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano's microphone on Thursday at a Senate hearing because the latter was out of order.

"Hindi po (ako nagsisisi). Kasi ganito po ang konteksto niyan eh. Nagiging out of order na siya... Kailangan kong gawin 'yon para hindi sila nagsasabayan ni Sen. de Lima," Trillanes said in an interview on Unang Balita.

He added that de Lima, who is chairperson of the committee conducting the hearing on extrajudicial killings attributed to the Duterte administration, was not familiar with the master switch in front of her which she could have used to turn off someone else's microphone to avoid having two people speak at the same time.

Trillanes also said Cayetano was being hard on the witness, Edgar Matobato, who said he was a former member of the Davao Death Squad and had killed people supposedly on orders of President Rodrigo Duterte during his term as Davao City mayor.

"Bina-batter lang niya 'yung witness," Trillanes said.

The senator added that Cayetano, Duterte's running mate in the 2016 national elections, was intentionally bombarding the witness with questions one after the other for a purpose.

"Alam ko 'yung intention niya. Gusto niyang ikonsumo 'yung oras ng committee... para malihis ang atensyon," he added.

"Isang oras ang pagtatanong niya," Trillanes said.

Credibility of witness

Trillanes also said in the interview that he believes Matobato is credible as a witness.

"Sa kabuuan ng testimonya niya, credible siya at kapani-paniwala," he said.

Trillanes however said that whatever Matobato said should be validated.

He cited the statement of Matobato that billionaire Richard King was killed on orders of Paolo Duterte, son of President Duterte.

"Kinuwento lang ng testigo, nung pumatay, na eventually pinatay din," Trillanes said.

Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte said on Thursday that what Matobato said was "mere hearsay." —KG, GMA News