THE self-proclaimed Davao Death Squad hitman Edgar Matobato is facing new criminal complaint before Samal Prosecution Office (SPO).
According to lawyer Jude Sabio, the legal counsel of Matobato, the Samal Prosecution Office through a notification asked him to file a counter affidavit on the kidnapping case field against Matobato.
Sabio said that he will send today a motion to extend deadline of 10 days in filing the affidavit.
“Tomorrow is the deadline for the filing of counter for the Samal case, so I will send a motion for extension of time, I need such extension because of heavy workload,” Sabio said to SunStar Sunday afternoon.
This case is connected with the kidnapping of Turkish National Sali Makdum, the man whom Matobato claimed to have killed in 2002 upon the orders of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Matobato in a testimony before the Senate last September 15 said that he participated in the abduction and murder of Makdum, claiming that the latter is an international terrorist.
He also testified before the Senate that they snatched Makdum from the Island Garden City of Samal and killed him before chopping his body into pieces.
Based from interview with Makdum's relatives aired in CNN Philippines, Makdum and Matobato were allegedly engaged in buying and selling of land.
Makdum's relatives also claimed that the two were not only neighbors but also related by marriage as the Filipino wife of Makdum is the cousin of Matobato’s wife.
One of Matobato's distant relative, in the same report said that Matobato and Makdum were about to close the deal on the purchase of property in a canteen in Samal when Mataboto arrived along with seven men.
The latter invited Makdum to go with them in a van waiting outside of the canteen.
Makdum was at first hesitant but was convinced to go with Matobato after the latter assured him that he will be safe. That was the last time Makdum's family saw him.
Matobato during the previous Senate hearing said that the National Bureau of Investigation filed kidnapping charges against him in connection with the death of Makdum but it was dismissed.
Aside from criminal complaint filed against Matobato before SPO, Matobato is also facing criminal complaint before the Digos City Prosecution Office for frustrated murder he committed against complainant Abeto Salcedo Jr.
Salcedo, a retired adjudicator of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Southern Mindanao, positively identified Matobato as the gunman who shot him at close range as he was emerging from the Department of Agriculture provincial office in Digos City last October 24, 2014.
Matobato is also facing trial for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition case filed against him before the Davao City Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 3.