CHR probe to include killings in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will investigate the “unexpected number” of summary executions in Metro Manila at the same time that it probes the so-called Davao Death Squad.

CHR Commissioner Jose Manuel Mamauag told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview that the cases in Metro Manila, where the bodies usually bore torture marks, would be included in the scope of the multi-agency task force created to investigate the killings in Davao City.

The CHR en banc signed a resolution that took note of the “need to expand the scope of the said task force, taking into consideration the significant number of extralegal killings or summary executions in the NCR [National Capital Region].”

Mamauag said a statistics agency recorded 36 summary executions in Metro Manila in 2009.

“When we checked our own files, that was the same figure we had,” Mamauag said in Filipino.

He said the task force would be looking at “all angles” and was hopeful the investigation would encourage “the nameless, faceless informants” to talk to investigators.

“The investigation includes not only enforced disappearances or extralegal killings related to political activities; it will include criminal actions such as salvaging,” Mamauag said.

The resolution said the CHR will ask the Philippine National Police “to constitute a special team to assist the CHR in the investigation. –Nikko Dizon, Philippine Daily Inquirer