Former Philippines Hitman Claims Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte murdered Justice Official

• Edgar Matobato a former hitman in the Philippines blamed the president for killing of a justice official
• The only response from Duterte's spokesman that came was calling allegations false and said the testimony was "mere hearsay" from "a madman"
• Edgar Matobato said he left the squad because he was bothered by his conscience

Sept 16, 2016: A self-confessed former hitman in the Philippines has accused the president Rodrigo Duterte of killing an justice official and ordering the deaths of hundreds of others while serving as a mayor of Davao City before resuming the presidency, earlier this year.

A former member of Philippines death squad told the senators in Manila on Thursday that he himself personally killed about 50 people using various methods that included feeding one man to an alligator south of Davao City and has burned others.

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Describing the incident in which Matobato accused the president himself of killing in 1993 where his hit squad encountered a justice department agent who tried to stop them from carrying out a mission.The encounter escalated into a gun battle that ended with Duterte executing the agent, Matobato said.

"Mayor Duterte was the one who finished him off. Jamisola (the justice department official) was still alive when he (Duterte) arrived. He emptied two Uzi magazines on him," he said.

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The only response from Duterte's spokesman that came was calling allegations false and said the testimony was "mere hearsay" from "a madman."

Edgar Matobato said he left the squad because he was bothered by his conscience. He also added that he was admitted to the justice department's witness protection programme but left to go into hiding when Duterte won the presidency.

– prepared by Anubhuti Gupta of Newsgram with inputs from VOA. Twitter: @anuB_11