Duterte ordered killing of Jun Pala – Senate witness

Bea Cupin

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Duterte ordered killing of Jun Pala – Senate witness
The broadcaster was ordered killed because he was a chief critic of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, according to Edgar Matobato

MANILA, Philippines – A key witness during a Senate probe into the rise of killings in the government’s war on drugs said on Thursday, September 15, that President Rodrigo Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, ordered the killing of broadcaster Jun Pala in 2003.  

Speaking under oath during Thursday’s Senate probe, Edgar Matobato said that Duterte, through his supposed “right hand man,” a certain Arthur Lascañas, ordered Pala killed because the Davao-based radio commentator had been criticizing Duterte repeatedly. 

On September 6, 2003, Pala was gunned down by unknown men on a motorcycle in Davao City. He sustained 9 gunshot wounds, mostly on his chest and head, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Pedro Hospital. His murder remains unsolved.

Shortly after he won the May 2016 presidential race, Duterte said in press conference that journalists are legitimate targets of assassination “if you’re a son of a bitch.”

One of these people “who deserved it,” he said then, was broadcaster Jun Pala. (READ: Duterte’s ‘enemy’: Jun Pala– with reports from Jodesz Gavilan/Rappler.com

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Bea Cupin

Bea is a senior multimedia reporter who covers national politics. She's been a journalist since 2011 and has written about Congress, the national police, and the Liberal Party for Rappler.