A member of the Philippines' assassination squad testified before the country's Senate on Thursday that when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was mayor of Davao City, he and other team members were ordered to kill criminals and opposition figures in gang-like assassination operations, resulting in a total of about 1,000 deaths.

The Associated Press reported that the former hitman, 57-year-old Edgar Matobato, testified that he heard Duterte order some of the murders. Matobato himself was involved in 50 murders, including throwing a kidnapping suspect to feed crocodiles in 2007.

Davao City is located at the southern tip of Mindanao in the Philippines. From 1988 to 2016, the post of mayor of Davao City has been rotating between Duterte and his daughter Sara Duterte for most of the time. After Duterte became the president of the Philippines, his mayoralty was handed over to his daughter Sara Duterte, and his son Paolo Duterte became the deputy mayor.

Duterte has long denied any connection with the assassination squad, but he has also said that his method of dealing with criminals is to "kill them all." Matobato was the first person to come forward and publicly disclose Duterte's involvement in such behavior.

The Philippine Senate hearing was chaired by female Senator Leila de Lima, who is also a fierce critic of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. Since Duterte took office in June, anti-drug operations have killed more than 3,000 suspected drug traffickers. Duterte accused de Lima of having an affair with drug dealers, saying one of her drivers had taken money from an arrested drug leader. de Lima denied Duterte's claims.

Matobato testified before the Senate that Duterte ordered de Lima’s assassination. de Lima, who was then chairman of the Human Rights Commission, was investigating whether Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, was linked to extrajudicial killings in the city in 2009. Matobato said he and others lay in wait in a hilly area to shoot de Lima. Fortunately, she escaped in the end.

Matobato also disclosed that this kind of killing of criminals and opposition figures began in 1988, when Duterte first became mayor of Davao City, and continued when he left in 2013. Matobato had previously expressed his intention to leave the assassination team, but was threatened by his peers.

Matobato said: "Our job is to kill people like drug lords, rapists, and robbers. We do this kind of killing every day." In addition, Matobato said, Duterte’s political opponents, including opponents of his son Paolo Duterte, were also targeted for murder.

Matobato said that in 2014, an assassination team killed a wealthy businessman in Davao City who had previously had a conflict with Paolo Duterte over a woman. Paolo Duterte denied the claims, saying the accusations were hearsay and without evidence.

Other victims include: a foreign militant, whom Matobato strangled to death, quartered his body, and buried him under a quarry in 2002; a radio commentator who opposed Duterte was shot dead by gunmen on motorcycles on his way home in 2003; four bodyguards of a political opponent of Duterte were hijacked by an assassination team on an island in 2010, buried in the sand, and strangled to death.

Matobato said that some of the people who died at the hands of the assassination team were thrown directly on the streets of Davao City or buried in three secret locations. Others had their stomachs cut open, tied with stones and thrown into the sea.

Matobato said the hit squad killed these like "chickens."

Due to his conscience, Matobato decided not to kill again, left the assassination team in 2013, and joined a government witness protection program. But after Duterte became president, Matobato withdrew from the project fearing that his life was in danger, and decided to stand up and make what he knew known to the public "so that the killings would stop." ”

Regarding Matobato's testimony, Philippine Presidential Spokesperson Martin Andanar stated that these accusations are without basis, saying that the government's investigation into Duterte's behavior when he was mayor of Davao City found nothing because no conclusive evidence and witnesses could be found.

Duterte himself has not yet commented on this.

Matobato's testimony also triggered heated discussions in the Senate. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano accused Matobato, saying that someone wanted to use his testimony to bring down Duterte, "I want to know if you were brought here to bring down this government." ” Other senators warned Matobato that admitting to his involvement in the murder could land him in jail.

As president, Duterte has immunity. de Lima said the rule should be revised.

In 2012, the Philippine Human Rights Commission confirmed that premeditated and systematic murders had indeed occurred in Davao City. Although more and more people were killed, the members of the assassination team and the people who gave them orders have never been found.