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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
'There’s been a lot of pessimism going around, especially if we look at the latest political developments worldwide.... Right here at home, the unresolved questions remain hanging.'
We’re midway through the first month of 2025. I hope you’re sufficiently reinvigorated and ready to take on new challenges of the new year.
There’s been a lot of pessimism going around, especially if we look at the latest political developments worldwide. For one, there’s great apprehension over Donald Trump taking over the US presidency by next week, January 20. What would that spell for democracy, migration, cultural diversity, and right-wing tendencies? Then there’s the resignation of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that signals a likely vacuum in progressive leadership. And in our own region, there’s the arrest of impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, who declared martial law last December.
Right here at home, the unresolved questions — on the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte over her misuse of confidential funds, and the unclear endgame of investigations into Philippine offshore gaming operators, former Bamban mayor Alice Guo, as well as extrajudicial killings under Rodrigo Duterte — remain hanging. Everything seems to be in limbo as the election period, not yet the campaign period, has officially started. (READ | In Numbers: 2025 Philippine elections)
REMEMBER EDGAR MATOBATO? Against this somber backdrop, the name Edgar Matobato resurfaced in a recent New York Times story. It reminded me of an earlier interview done with him in 2023, kept for safety, and considered for a more appropriate time to release.
Appearing older than his real age back then, thinner owing to a succession of illnesses, and soft-spoken with a Visayan accent, Edgar was far from the killer he described his previous self to be. He was very graphic in his description of how he, along with members of the Davao Death Squad, mercilessly chopped people into pieces and buried them in a quarry in Davao.
As if possessed, they killed to prove their gutsiness and daring, and they followed orders without question. A code of silence, omerta, bound all of them until the spirits of three teenagers, who were raped then killed, returned to haunt him.
I invited Father Flavie Villanueva, who started Project Paghilom, to review that interview with Edgar, and share with viewers his impressions and thoughts. Some of what he said struck me: “Noong una, hindi ko lubos maisip bakit gano’n ka-brutal. But if you would also look at their background, similar to other henchmen, ano sila e, matador, butcher, sa mga nakilala ko. So, ibig sabihin, parang kung gaano nila katayin ‘yong hayop, gano’n din ang pagtrato nila sa kanilang mga biktima. Hayop, hindi tao.”
(At first, I couldn’t fully understand the need for such brutality. But if you would also look at their background, similar to other henchmen, they were butchers, those I knew. This means that how they butcher an animal is no different from how they treat their victims. Animals, not people.)
Watch Part 1 of the interview here, and read the full transcript too. Part 2 will air later in the day and an accompanying transcript will also be published.
REMEMBER ALICE GUO AND CRIME GANGS? Another personality from the more recent past, Alice Guo, and her alleged ties to Chinese crime gangs — if not espionage — are also unfinished business. In November 2024, the Senate held its last hearing without Guo in attendance, as it coincided with a hearing of her trafficking case in a Pasig City trial court.
A few days ago, senior reporter Lian Buan wrote that 62 counts of money laundering charges will be filed by the Department of Justice against Guo, who is accused of being behind the scam farm in her hometown.
A recent investigation done in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project also showed that the supposed “big boss” of criminal activities, a Chinese named Huang Zhiyang, plays a significant role in scam operations operating from Southeast Asia. He had used his Cyprus passport to incorporate a real estate Bamban company, Baofu Land Development Incorporated.
How much longer will this case drag on, given the distractions afforded by the coming midterm elections? – Rappler.com
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