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'We are not into killings': Ex-Davao cop denies DDS links

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Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameBorder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FabscbnNEWS%2Fvideos%2F10154409825875168%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></figure>MANILA – The Davao police’s “Heinous Crimes Division” did not carry out hits against drug suspects, its former head insisted Monday, contrary to the claims of Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed hitman of the alleged vigilante group Davao Death Squad (DDS).“We are not into killing but we are there to conduct investigation, follow up cases, conduct surveillance,” retired unit head, Senior Superintendent Dionisio Abude said at a Senate inquiry.Refuting Matobato’s claim that his unit was “activated to kill people,” Abude noted that his men successfully foiled the attempt of a drug pusher to commit suicide after being arrested. He also noted that their team apprehended over 60 suspects every year without harming them.Matobato has alleged that some policemen belong to the purported DDS that former Davao mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly organized to execute suspected criminals and political rivals.The witness also claimed that the DDS planned the 2002 murder of suspected international terrorist Sali Makdum at the heinous crimes division office, where Abude was also present.Abude denied the accusation, saying he was still assigned to the drug enforcement unit at that time. He noted that he only headed the Heinous Crime unit from January 2003 until March 2006.He added that he met Matabato in 1992 only because he is a relative of a former colleague.“Kilala ko siya (Matobato) dahil pinsan siya ng kasamahan kong pulis [I’m acquainted with Matobato because he was a cousin of my fellow policeman] in 1992, when I was assigned to the San Pedro police station,” Abude said. Abude also emphasized that he only became aware of the DDS through media reports.“Iyung media doon, sila ang nagsasabi na [The media there, they’re the ones saying] death squad. ‘Pag may namamatay sa Davao, sabi nila death squad [If someone dies in Davao, they claim it was because of the death squad],” he said.<div>OMBUDSMAN RAPS </div>Abude, however, admitted that he and 20 other ranking officers were administratively penalized by the Office of the Ombudsman in March 2012 over their failure to curb the rampant killings allegedly perpetrated by the DDS.“Records showed that from 2005 to 2008, the Davao City Police Office registered an unusually high number of unsolved killings. The perpetrators of these executions were usually 2 motorcycle-riding gunmen and the killings were mostly drug-related,” Senator Leila De Lima, who interpellated Abude, read from the Ombudsman ruling.Citing data from the Ombudsman fact-finding team, De Lima emphasized that 720 persons were murdered between 2005 and 2008, but only 321 cases or less than 50 percent were solved.In his defense, Abude insisted that all cases were “properly investigated,” but were only stumped due to a lack of witnesses.Abude retired from police service in January 2013, after which he was appointed as consultant of the Civil Security Unit by the President’s daughter, incumbent Davao Mayor Sara Duterte.Fifteen other police officers with alleged DDS links were set to face the Senate inquiry.

The Davao police’s “Heinous Crimes Division” did not carry out hits against drug suspects, its former head insisted Monday, contrary to the claims of Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed hitman of the alleged vigilante group Davao Death Squad (DDS).

The Davao police’s “Heinous Crimes Division” did not carry out hits against drug suspects, its former head insisted Monday, contrary to the claims of Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed hitman of the alleged vigilante group Davao Death Squad (DDS).

'We are not into killings': Ex-Davao cop denies DDS links

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'We are not into killings': Ex-Davao cop denies DDS links

Jamaine Punzalan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 03, 2016 12:49 PM PHT

Read More:

ANC

DDS

Davao death squad

Heinous Crimes Division

Dionisio Abude

Edgar Matobato

Rodrigo Duterte

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