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Rodrigo Duterte Ordered Philippine Killings, Professed Hit Man Testifies

MANILA — He was a member of a hit squad that killed hundreds over the years, taking part in about 50 of the murders himself. One victim was fed to crocodiles, he recalled, and four others were hanged and thrown into the sea.

The self-described hit man, Edgar Matobato, said that Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, presided over the extrajudicial killings of about 1,000 criminal suspects and political opponents when he was mayor of Davao City for most of the past two decades — even ordering some of the killings himself.

“We were tasked to kill criminals every day,” Mr. Matobato said Thursday at a televised Senate hearing investigating extrajudicial killings under Mr. Duterte in Davao City.

Mr. Duterte’s promise during his presidential campaign to pursue his antidrug push nationally has alarmed human rights groups, which fear that extrajudicial killings are eroding the rule of law in the Philippines, an important American ally in Asia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/world ... .html?_r=0

36 Killings a Day in the Philippines

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte promised to begin a war on crime when he took office. Seven weeks into his presidency, more than 1,900 people have died, more than half of them in vigilante killings.

The National Police Chief, Ronald Dela Rosa, first gave the Philippine Senate inquiry a figure that was 100 deaths fewer, but by Tuesday he had revised that number to about 36 deaths per day. Of these, Dela Rosa said, police killed at least 712; the others, he said, were killed by vigilantes who often leave behind signs that warn others against becoming involved in drugs.

As the killings have risen, critics, including international human rights groups and local politicians, have become more vocal. As Reuters reported:

The inquiry is being conducted by a staunch critic of the president, Senator Leila de Lima, who has summoned top police and anti-narcotics officials to explain the "unprecedented" rise in the body count and reports of vigilante killings.

Duterte has warned legislators not to interfere with his campaign, saying they could be killed if they blocked efforts aimed at improving the country.

Over the weekend, Duterte threatened to pull his country out of the United Nations after a UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings said she may visit the country to look into the spike in murders. Duterte called the UN “stupid” for wanting to interfere in his country. The next day his foreign affairs secretary apologized, saying Duterte did not mean what he’d said, and that when he’d made the statement, he was “tired, disappointed, hungry.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive ... te/496982/