On the Run, a Hit Man Gives One Last Confession
In this article published by The New York Times, Hannah Beech discusses the experiences of Edgar Matobato, a confessed assassin of the Davao Death Squad and the first person to go public about the extrajudicial killings allegedly ordered by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“For almost 24 years, I killed and disposed of many bodies,” Mr. Matobato said of his time with a death squad in Davao City, in the southern Philippines. “I am trying to remember, but I cannot remember everyone.”
“I’m sorry,” he added.
We were sitting in the outdoor kitchen of Mr. Matobato’s secret refuge in the Philippines. A fierce rain sent water skittering into the room. Mosquitoes followed. He slapped one dead, its body oozing someone else’s blood.
Mr. Matobato was in hiding. He has been for a decade, ever since he confessed to his crimes and divulged who ordered the bloodletting: Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of Davao City, who later became president of the Philippines.
Picture: Edgar Matobato, a member of a death squad linked to former President Rodrigo Duterte, inside a church compound at an undisclosed location in the Philippines in June | The New York Times
