PROFESSED Davao Death Squad hitman Edgar Matobato on Monday asked the Supreme Court to transfer his trial on charges of illegal possession of firearms from the Davao City Regional Trial Court to a Manila court.
In a 16-page petition for transfer of trial venue, Matobato through his lawyer Jude Josue Sabio cited the possibility of being killed by those he named as allegedly behind the DDS operations.
Matobato is facing a case of violation of Republic Act No. 10591 which is carrying a firearm outside of residence without the requisite permit to carry that is pending before Branch 3 of the Davao City Municipal Trial Court in Cities.
The accused also appealed to the Office of the Court Administrator to cancel his arraignment scheduled on November 3 while his petition to transfer the venue of his case is still pending.
Matobato recently testified before the Senate Committee on Justice inquiry on the series of extrajudicial killings in the country mostly involving alleged drug pushers and users.
The 57-year-old Matobato last September appeared before the Senate’s Committee on Justice and Human Rights inquiry on the series of extrajudicial killings in the country mostly involving alleged drug pushers and users.
In his testimony, Matobato tagged President Duterte as the mastermind behind the DDS, a group that is allegedly comprised of policemen from the Davao City Police and hired assassins tasked by Duterte to kill criminals in Davao as a strategy of crime control.
“The fact that President Rodrigo R. Duterte is the prime target of his [Matobato’s] exposé makes the scenario even more terrifying. This is not to mention the fact that Matobato’s former comrades are policemen based in Davao City who are capable of mounting an attack on him in a covert manner,” the petition stated.
The petitioner believes that there is a higher risk for policemen riding in tandem to launch an attack against Matobato if he sets foot to Davao.
“After all, Matobato’s former comrades are still entrenched in Davao City with the backing of their leader, the most powerful man in the country, President Rodrigo R. Duterte a.k.a. Charlie Mike,” the petitioner said.
He also added that Matobato’s former comrades in the DDS is already in Manila “judging from the style of executions with which he is very familiar.”