MANILA, Philippines – Some members of the Davao police are actually “involved” in the death squad behind the vigilante killings in the city, Commission on Human Rights chairperson Leila de Lima said yesterday, citing “confirmed information.”
But according to De Lima, they are having a hard time convincing their assets to come out against these rogue policemen.
“We have confirmed information that there are certain police officers in Davao who are involved in the death squad,” De Lima revealed during a dialogue with Quezon City policemen yesterday afternoon.
“We are 100 percent morally convinced that the killings in Davao are something that is really organized,” the CHR chairperson added.
According to De Lima, their informants have given them the names of the Davao policemen, numbering to more than 10 and even including some station commanders in Davao, whose participation in the killings allegedly range from ordering the attacks to actually firing the shots at the victims.
De Lima refused to drop names of the Davao policemen at the moment.
“We recorded their (informants’) statements and the names they have given. It will form part of our report,” she said.
According to De Lima, they are working on a “breakthrough” before they conduct their next public hearing that she said is something to “watch out for.”
To stress the veracity of the CHR’s information, De Lima said their informants had “personal knowledge” of the killings, with some of them being former members of the death squad.
De Lima mentioned of “patterns” that point to the allegation that some policemen in Davao were involved in the death squad.
She cited that most victims had “petty criminal records” and were minor aged.
“The assailants are motorcycle-riding men with the attacks staged in broad daylight,” she added.
Apart from this, she said that in most cases of killings in Davao, the response of the local police was belated even if some incidents happened near a police station.
De Lima also said that in most instances, there were many people actually seeing the incidents but would eventually not come out as witnesses to the killings to implicate the suspects.
Because of this, De Lima admitted that it has been a “challenge” for the CHR to convince their informants to come out.
“There should be an honest to goodness witness protection program and at present the CHR has no capacity for that,” she said, noting that coming out to testify on the part of their assets would strengthen the case against the implicated Davao policemen.
De Lima said that since the public hearings they conducted recently, there has been a significant decline in the incidents of killings.
“Some say the death squad is just laying low. I hope that’s not the case,” she said. - By Reinir Padua (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)
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