The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has expressed alarm over rising incidence of summary executions in Davao City and scheduled public hearings in March on the so-called “Davao Death Squad”, ABS-CBN news reported on Sunday. “It's getting alarming. What's happening? In January, our local office validated nine to 11 cases. Local media have reported much higher figures. I think there is really a need to do something about it. We need to conduct a public inquiry,” CHR chief Leila de Lima said. The city, while famous for its peace and order, is notorious for summary executions of suspected criminals like drug pushers and petty thieves, some of whom are minors. The Davao Death Squad, a vigilante group whose aim supposedly is to make the city crime-free, has been involved in over 500 killings.“How can something very systematic and very regular be not the handiwork of someone or a group? We need to conduct public hearings. We are lending the institutional position of the CHR to conduct a comprehensive forum to seriously look into this phenomenon in Davao ,” De Lima said. A culture of impunity apparently pervades the city, De Lima said. The vigilantes used to wear hoods to hide their identity. But recently, there were cases when the victims were stabbed in broad daylight and the vigilantes casually walked away from the scenes. The public hearings will be held on March 30 and 31 and the CHR said it will issue a formal resolution on the public hearings next week. De Lima said she has been getting e-mails from representatives of international organizations who have read about the killings on the Internet. “It may be tough to really find out who or what group is behind it. At the very least, we want to know the factors that are contributing to that kind of incidence and culture of impunity. Hopefully, there will be some kind of a deterrent effect. They will lie low,” De Lima said. “We want to make people realize that killing is wrong, legally and morally. Even assuming that these are criminal elements, it's wrong. Many of them are even minors.” The CHR had been asking Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for a dialogue regarding the killings since October but it was only last month that De Lima finally met the mayor in a human rights conference in Davao City . “I was assured by the mayor that he will cooperate. He will be there. He said he will participate as long as it's open and transparent,” De Lima said. Asked what Duterte had to say about the killings, she said the mayor told her to “go deeper into the history of Davao City “ because “there was a time when there was a proliferation of undocumented firearms.” De Lima said the commission will also summon other city government officials, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Versoza and the local police, as well as representatives of the Department of Interior and Local Government, the office of the Ombudsman, National Police Commission, the local media, church groups, NGOs, and the academe. “We will ask PNP chief Jesus Versoza to appear as a resource person. If the local police were the only ones invited, they may be evasive. They may say, ‘we have to clear this with our superiors,'” she said. “If their superiors are there, we can directly ask questions.” De Lima said there are people in Davao City who support the CHR's initiative because of concerns about the impact of summary executions on the residents. In the same conference, De Lima criticized the Death Squad. She said several people from the audience approached her during the break to express “great alarm” over the killings.
