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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Saturday, September 2, 2017
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte was removed as respondent in the charges filed in connection with murders allegedly committed when the chief executive was mayor of Davao City.
Self-confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman Edgar Matobato filed before the Office of the Ombudsman multiple murder charges against Duterte and several others for the deaths of journalist Jun Pala and former soldier Jun Barsabal.
Pala and Barsabal were allegedly killed by the death squad, a vigilante group that Duterte was accused of creating when he was mayor.
But an Office of the Ombudsman special panel took Duterte’s name from the list of respondents, which included the president’s son, Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte; Philippine National Police chief, Director General Ronald Dela Rosa; and 25 former and incumbent police officers and Davao City government officials.
Matobato’s lawyer, Jude Sabio, said they will contest the Ombudsman’s decision.
“I presume (the Ombudsman’s order was grounded on) presidential immunity, which I think does not apply (here) because the criminal incidents occurred while he (Duterte) was still Davao City mayor,” Sabio said.
Matobato filed another complaint for alleged torture against a group of police officers led by Senior Police Officer 1 Reynante Medina. Duterte was not included in this complaint.
“I intend to call out the Ombudsman on the non-inclusion of Duterte,” Sabio added. “He (Duterte) was directly pointed as the mastermind in the Jun Bersabal and Jun Pala incidents.”
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said the fact-finding was over and Matobato’s complaint was now up for preliminary investigation proper.
In his complaint filed in December last year, Matobato urged an investigation into Duterte for alleged murder, kidnapping, kidnapping with murder, torture, and other crimes against humanity.
“I will confirm that it came to my knowledge that the preliminary investigation has been set,” said Morales, who inhibited from the case./PN
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