A self-confessed former assassin in Philippines has claimed that the country’s president Rodrigo Duterte once killed a justice department employee with a submachine gun when he was the mayor of Davao. Edgar Matobato made many such startling revelations before a Senate committee that is conducting an inquiry against the alleged extra-judicial killings ordered by Duterte.

Matobato said that the president ordered a death squad, of which he was also a member, to kill drug dealers, rapists, snatchers and opponents mercilessly, reported The Guardian. Duterte’s tenure as the mayor of Davao from 1988 to 2013 saw around 1,000 deaths. His anti-drug campaign, which he started after becoming the president in July this year, has already left more than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and users dead, according to The Guardian.

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Of all the 50 killings that Matobato has carried out, he admitted that the most gruesome one was that of a man who was fed to a crocodile in 2007. He added that bodies would often be dumped in the sea so that fish could eat them, reported BBC. He said, “We killed people almost on a daily basis.”

Asked about the victims, the 57-year-old former assassin said it ranged from petty criminals and opponents Duterte's family to political rivals. Matibato alleged that Duterte “emptied two Uzi magazines on” Jamisola, an agent from the justice department’s National Bureau of Investigation in 1993.

However, presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar rejected Matobato’s accusation. He said, “The Commission on Human Rights already investigated this a long time ago and no charges were filed.” Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre also echoed him, calling the allegations “lies and fabrications”.