Ex-Davao heinous crime unit chief: ‘We are not into killings’

The former chief of the heinous crime division under the Davao City Police Office said Monday that they were “not into killings” contrary to the testimony of confessed hitman Edgar Matobato. 

Retired police Supt. Dionisio Abude, among the 16 Davao active and retired policemen present at the resumption of the Senate probe on drug-related killings, said he was assigned as chief of the heinous crime division from January 15, 2003 until March 8, 2006. 

“We are not into killings. But we are there to conduct investigations, follow up cases, [do] surveillance and other opportunities to implement the warrant of those persons,” Abude said. 

Abude, 59, touted the accomplishments of the said division during his term, saying some 69 suspects were apprehended within one year. 

“[This] is in contrary to allegations of Mr. Matobato that the heinous crime division was activated to kill people,” he said. 

Matobato earlier testified before the Senate panel that the police division was used to kill several people allegedly on President Rodrigo Duterte’s orders during his term as mayor of Davao City. 

Abude also denied Matobato’s statement that he was present in a meeting supposedly held in the office of the heinous crime division to plan the kidnapping and killing of suspected international terrorist Sali Makdum in 2002. 

“I deny that, your honor, because I was not there and I was not yet assigned in that office,” he explained. 

Abude said he was assigned at the drug enforcement unit in 2002 prior to his stint at the heinous crime division. 

He said he only knows witness Matobato as the cousin of retired police Inspector Eduardo Matobato. 

Asked whether he has heard of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), Abude said: “Narinig na. Kasi ‘yung mga media, sila po ang nagbibigay, nagsasabi ng kapag may namamatay sa Davao, sabi nila death squad.”

Senator Leila de Lima, who sought the probe on drug-related killings, raised Abude’s administrative case in 2012, wherein he was penalized for the “unabated killings” attributed to the DDS. 

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales found guilty Abude of simple neglect of duty, along with 20 other high-ranking officers of the Philippine National Police, for which they were meted the penalty of fine equivalent to one month salary. 

An Ombudsman release said that from 2005 to 2008, the Davao City Police Office registered an unusually high number of unsolved killings. 

“The OMB-MOLEO (Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices) fact-finding team reported that in 4 years, there were 720 persons murdered; 97 in 2005; 165 in 2006; 199 in 2007 and 259 in 2008,” the Ombudsman has said. 

Abude has retired from service in January 2013. He said he was appointed as consultant of the Civil Security Unit by Davao Mayor Sara Duterte after his retirement. — RSJ, GMA News