CEBU CITY, Philippines - The legal counsel of the King family in Cebu, Atty. Deolito Alvarez, said he isn’t convinced that Davao City Vice Mayor and presidential son Paolo Duterte ordered the killing of businessman Richard King in 2014.
Alvarez’ statement came after witness Edgar Matobato indicted the younger Duterte as the mastermind behind the slay of the billionaire hotelier. In his testimony during the Senate hearing on Thursday, September 15, Matobato, who claims to be a member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), said that Paolo wanted to have King killed because of a woman, who is reportedly a franchisee of McDonald’s fast-food restaurant in Cebu.
Two of his companions, according to Matobato, were allegedly given P500,000 to assassinate King.
Speaking to Inquirer, Alvarez said he is convinced that the accused facing charges in court are the real perpetrators.
“The statement of witness Matobato in trying to cast cloud and put politics into the equation is not true,” Alvarez said.
On June 12, 2014, real estate and hotel business owner King was shot dead inside his office in Davao City.
Paul Dave Molina Labang confessed as the gunman of King, while siblings Rommel and Rodel de la Cerna served as lookouts. All three men indicted former chief of regional police intelligence unit in Southern Mindanao Senior Supt. Leonardo Felonia as the mastermind behind the killing.
Meanwhile, Kabayan Party-list representative and former lawyer of King family Atty. Harry Roque said the family never suspected that the Duterte’s were behind the death of King.
"Police Supt. Leonardo Felonia was charged for King's murder. Not once was it the name of Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte ever mentioned in the course of the investigation,” Roque told GMA News.
In July this year, President Rodrigo Duterte said that King was involved in illegal drugs trade and had connections with top-tier drug lord Herbert Colango. King’s family denied the president’s Allegations.
--Mini, The Summit Express
Alvarez’ statement came after witness Edgar Matobato indicted the younger Duterte as the mastermind behind the slay of the billionaire hotelier. In his testimony during the Senate hearing on Thursday, September 15, Matobato, who claims to be a member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), said that Paolo wanted to have King killed because of a woman, who is reportedly a franchisee of McDonald’s fast-food restaurant in Cebu.
Two of his companions, according to Matobato, were allegedly given P500,000 to assassinate King.
Speaking to Inquirer, Alvarez said he is convinced that the accused facing charges in court are the real perpetrators.
“The statement of witness Matobato in trying to cast cloud and put politics into the equation is not true,” Alvarez said.
On June 12, 2014, real estate and hotel business owner King was shot dead inside his office in Davao City.
Paul Dave Molina Labang confessed as the gunman of King, while siblings Rommel and Rodel de la Cerna served as lookouts. All three men indicted former chief of regional police intelligence unit in Southern Mindanao Senior Supt. Leonardo Felonia as the mastermind behind the killing.
Meanwhile, Kabayan Party-list representative and former lawyer of King family Atty. Harry Roque said the family never suspected that the Duterte’s were behind the death of King.
"Police Supt. Leonardo Felonia was charged for King's murder. Not once was it the name of Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte ever mentioned in the course of the investigation,” Roque told GMA News.
In July this year, President Rodrigo Duterte said that King was involved in illegal drugs trade and had connections with top-tier drug lord Herbert Colango. King’s family denied the president’s Allegations.
--Mini, The Summit Express
