Inaction on Davao vigilantes hit

CHR Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales called for a close examination of local officials, specifically then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, for their failure to properly investigate and stop the killings. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on the government to act on the  recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to hold local officials in Davao City accountable for the unabated and systematic pattern of extrajudicial killings by a vigilante group in the city from 2005 to 2009.

“The Davao Death Squad statement is an important opportunity for the Aquino administration to show it is serious about holding officials accountable for the worst abuses,” Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement.

“The government should promptly implement these recommendations,” he added.

On Wednesday, the CHR released its findings showing that 206 of 375 reported killings during that period were perpetrated by the so-called Davao Death Squad. The victims were mostly young men and teenagers suspected of committing crimes.

CHR Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales called for a close examination of local officials, specifically then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, for their failure to properly investigate and stop the killings.

Both the CHR and the HRW also called for an in-depth investigation of Duterte’s long-alleged links to the vigilante group.

“The continuing pattern of killings and the failure to conduct a meaningful investigation of such incident can be construed as tolerance on the part of the authorities of the crimes heretofore described, thereby contributing to the climate of impunity, ” the CHR report, released on August 15, said.