Tag Archives: davao death squad
Duterte defends reward for ‘killing’ criminal – FRONT PAGE – Durian Post No. 106
ROGER M. BALANZA
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed speculations he could run afoul with the law over rewards he is giving for arrest and termination of criminals, saying even the police and military are putting up bounties for the capture dead or alive of persons in their wanted list.
Even the police and military are doing it, he said at the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN-Davao hosted by lawyer Geraldine Tiu.
Tiu had sought Duterte’s comment about the negative legal implications of his public announcement about giving out P50,000 to policemen, barangay officials and civilians credited with the arrest of criminals.
If the criminals are killed, I will add more, said Duterte in the television program in what is seen is a broadside at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Known for his iron-fist anti-crime policy while still the city mayor and for his public warnings of “termination” of crminals, Duterte had been probed in 2009 by the CHR Manila for his alleged role in the Davao Death Squad blamed for the hundreds of deaths of suspected criminals in the city.
In the television program, Duterte said the reward is for the capture of “high-value criminals” among them those who have pending warrants of arrest for kidnapping or robbery.
“In the act of committing the offense and in order to save your life, I would be happy if you can kill them,” Duterte said in a morbid advice to would-be bounty hunters.
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO RESUME PROBE ON DAVAO DEATH SQUAD
SIPACO
Duterte won’t stop warnings
of death against criminals
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Nobody can stop Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte from warning criminals they would be sent to their death and to hell if they continue to terrorize the Dabawenyos.
This developed as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Davao said it will conduct a validation of its series of investigations on summary executions in Davao City.
Atty. Alberto Sipaco, CHR regional director, in a recent command conference with Duterte, acting as mayor with Mayor Sara Duterte on leave, and officers of the police and military, , said he had been ordered by CHR en banc to conduct a validation of all statements given in the series of three public inquiries conducted by former CHR chair Leila De Lima in 2009.
“This is not an investigation but more of a validation of the statements issued by respondents,” Sipaco said.
Duterte said he and the police will willingly cooperate in the process.
Duterte was a central figure in the De Lima investigation which tried to establish his links and that of the police to the shadowy mootorcycle-riding gunmen Davao Death Squad said to be behind the extrajudicial execution of suspected criminals.
As an offshoot of the CHR probe, 21 senior officers of the Davao City Police Office had been temporarily suspended and then in a final ruling by the Ombudsman fined for their alleged inaction on the summary executions.
In the command conference, Duterte told sitting police precinct commanders to exhaust their investigation on the unresolved killings in their respective jurisdiction by digging deeper into the incidents.
“Do not archive killing incidents. Work harder in your investigation by assigning two or three police personnel to investigate further these incidents,” Duterte said.
Duterte earlier said that the recent killings in the city were handiworks of gun-for-hire syndicates.
But Duterte told Sipaco that he will not stop warning criminals about their fate if they persist in operating in the city.
The De Lima probed had centered in part to Duterte’s public warnings against criminals as basis for his links to the death squad.
“I will not stop. That is my style of governance. I have to caution criminals than keeping my mouth shut. It will be a deterrent to whatever criminal action they will do to the city,” he said.
Duterte also suggested to the police precinct commanders to submit their report to the CHR, coursed through the director of the Davao City Police Office relative to the validation which will be conducted by the rights body.
He said there must be no stopping to the investigation of incidents until the crime is solved by identifying perpetrators and bringing them before the court of law.
Cops told to run after
gun-for-hire groups
Are there gun-for-hire groups operating in Davao City?
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte thinks so and has warned residents against the gunmen he said were behind the series of killings in the city.
He said people should be wary about the groups and report immediately to police those who offer them hit jobs for a fee.
Gun-for-hire syndicates are usually involved in extortion and liquidation jobs in land disputes, he said.
“This has to stop, otherwise, we will have a very dangerous situation,” he said adding police have already identified some of the gunmen.
He said the syndicates are not all from Davao City but from neighboring provinces.
He said revenge is also a motive in some of the killings carried out by the gun-for-hire syndicates.
Duterte said the murder of Barangay Lacson chief Aldion Layao, a former radio broadcaster, could be the work of one of the gun-for-hire groups.
He denied reports that Layao’s death could be politically related. Layao is a known supporter of Duterte’s political rival, former House Speaker Prospero Nograles.
He also said Layao’s death could not be linked to his media work as he had long left the profession. Layao won as barangay captain of Lacson in the 2010 elections.
Davao City cops fined over Davao death squads
For neglect of duty that resulted to 720 murders allegedly carried out by the ‘Davao death squad’, the 
Office of the Ombudsman ordered 21 Philippine National Police officials to give a fine equivalent to a month’s salary.Police Senior Superintendents Catalino Cuy and Jaime Morente and Police Superintendents Harry Espela, Michael John Dubria, and Rommil Mitra were found guilty of Simple Neglect of Duty over the killings. Also found guilty were other police chief inspectors, police senior inspectors, and police inspectors from the Davao City Police Office.
Although the usual penalty for neglect of duty is suspension for one month, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved the modification of the penalty to just a fine.
A fact-finding team from the Office of the Ombudsman found that 720 people were murdered from 2005 to 2008, with deaths reaching as high as 259 in 2008. The murders were usually done by men riding in tandem on motorcycles and most of the deaths were related to the drug trade, the Office of the Ombudsman said.
Less than half of the murders were ever solved, the fact-finding team found.
“From the foregoing figures, it is evident that the respondents were remiss in their duty to significantly reduce the number of killings,” the Ombudsman’s decision read. The police officers were found guilty under the doctrine of command responsibility under Executive Order No. 226 (1995).
According to the complaint letter that prompted the Ombudsman to investigate the Davao Death Squad killings, high-ranking PNP officers were “directly involved” in the murders.
ALSO READ: DUTERTE ON LINK TO DAVAO DEATH SQUAD: So be it …
ALSO READ: DURIAN POST NO.97 – Return of Davao Death Squad is ‘God’s voice‘
The Ombudsman said the officers were guilty of failing to “take preventive or corrective action either before, during, or immediately after (the crimes).”
Under that Executive Order, the police officials are presumed to have known about the crimes since they were both widespread and were “repeatedly or regularly committed within (their) area of responsibility.”
The Davao Death Squad is a vigilante group believed responsible for the deaths of drug dealers and delinquents in Davao City. According to a Human Rights Watch report in 2009, the murders were done with the knowledge and cooperation of local authorities.
DURIAN POST NO.97 – Return of Davao Death Squad is ‘God’s voice’
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the Dabawenyos’ loud call for the return of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) must be the “voice of God.”
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte posited this logic as a 
survey strongly backed return of the shadowy motorcycle-riding gunmen of the DDS to their deadly business of shooting down criminals, amid a current rush of crimes in the city.
The text survey last week in the hour-long TV Patrol Southern Mindanao news program hosted by Paul Palacio and Melanie Severino on ABS/CBN-Davao, 593 respondents voted for return of the DDS, against 65 respondents for reinforcing the local police force, to curb the rising crime incidents in the city.
The DDS blamed as behind past summary killings had lain low the past few years after more than a decade of a murderous spree that triggered probes on human rights violations linking the local leadership and the police.
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the vote of the Dabawenyos for the return of the DDS is the will of God, he said in the Sunday morning show hosted by lawyer-journalist Geraldine Tiu.
Tiu commented the votes may not reflect the entire wish of the Dabawenyos, the survey being limited to a number of respondents.
But Duterte said he was sure that if all the Dabawenyos are asked the questions, the ratio in the TV Patrol survey between votes for return of DDS against the votes of those who wanted to depend on a stronger police to arrest criminalities, would remain constant.
It would be like the votes in the contest between Inday and Nogie, he said. His daughter Inday, now sitting Mayor Sara Duterte trounced former Speaker Prospero Nograles in the 2010 mayoral battle by more than 220,00 votes.
The votes expressed the anger of the Dabawenyos against criminals, said Duterte who is widely-known for his iron-fist policy against criminals during his 18 years as the city mayor.
The votes show the revolting anger of the Dabawenyos against rabid criminals, he said to dismiss Tiu’s comment the votes indicate prevalence of the “culture of violence” in the city.
But Duterte said there is a downside to the Dabawenyo vote condoning the DDS, blamed by human rights groups here as behind summary executions of more than a thousand criminal suspects.
Now the human rights commission would be accusing them of being ‘kunsintidor’ (tolerant) of the DDS, he jested.
Duterte himself had been investigated in 2009 by the Commission on Human Rights for his alleged role with the death Squad and the summary executions. The rights body said Duterte “tolerated” the DDS and the executions but has yet to release its findings on the investigation.
MUTYA NG DABAW 2012 SEMIFINALISTS – 75TH ARAW NG DABAW- BY MORIE AGUILAR
MUTYA NG DABAW 2012 SEMI-FINALISTS, from left, Maria Theresa B. Tan, Jazzle Therese Q. Gomez, Joanna Miles L. Te, Dorothy S. Ibañez , Marianne Mae Q. Te
Davao City Vice Mayor Rody Duterte: Dabawenyos call for DDS return is “God’s voice”
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the Dabawenyos’ loud call for the return of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) must be the “voice of God.”
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte posited this logic as a 
survey strongly backed return of the shadowy motorcycle-riding gunmen of the DDS to their deadly business of shooting down criminals, amid a current rush of crimes in the city.
The text survey last week in the hour-long TV Patrol Southern Mindanao news program hosted by Paul Palacio and Melanie Severino on ABS/CBN-Davao, 593 respondents voted for return of the DDS, against 65 respondents for reinforcing the local police force, to curb the rising crime incidents in the city.
The DDS blamed as behind past summary killings had lain low the past few years after more than a decade of a murderous spree that triggered probes on human rights violations linking the local leadership and the police.
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the vote of the Dabawenyos for the return of the DDS is the will of God, he said in the Sunday morning show hosted by lawyer-journalist Geraldine Tiu.
Tiu commented the votes may not reflect the entire wish of the Dabawenyos, the survey being limited to a number of respondents.
But Duterte said he was sure that if all the Dabawenyos are asked the questions, the ratio in the TV Patrol survey between votes for return of DDS against the votes of those who wanted to depend on a stronger police to arrest criminalities, would remain constant.
It would be like the votes in the contest between Inday and Nogie, he said. His daughter Inday, now sitting Mayor Sara Duterte trounced former Speaker Prospero Nograles in the 2010 mayoral battle by more than 220,00 votes.
The votes expressed the anger of the Dabawenyos against criminals, said Duterte who is widely-known for his iron-fist policy against criminals during his 18 years as the city mayor.
The votes show the revolting anger of the Dabawenyos against rabid criminals, he said to dismiss Tiu’s comment the votes indicate prevalence of the “culture of violence” in the city.
But Duterte said there is a downside to the Dabawenyo vote condoning the DDS, blamed by human rights groups here as behind summary executions of more than a thousand criminal suspects.
Now the human rights commission would be accusing them of being ‘kunsintidor’ (tolerant) of the DDS, he jested.
Duterte himself had been investigated in 2009 by the Commission on Human Rights for his alleged role with the death Squad and the summary executions. The rights body said Duterte “tolerated” the DDS and the executions but has yet to release its findings on the investigation.
THE DURIAN BEAT – DURIAN POST COLUMN
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
On liking DDS, disliking Nogie
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte saying the Dabawenyos condoned the Davao Death Squad and wished for return of the gunmen to help curb crime is the “voice of God,” is expected to trigger reactions from Catholic Church leaders here.
The Church is in the forefront of the campaign against the hundreds of extrajudicial killings and had faulted the local leadership and police for the murders.
Now here is Duterte saying the hand of God could be behind the triggers of the 45s of the precise-shooting, motorcycle-riding assassins blamed for hundreds of victims.
Months ahead of the May 2010 elections, Davao City Archbishop Fernando Capalla had issued a Pastoral Letter, read prior to Mass in all churches in the city, condemning the killings with hints they were carried out with the blessings of local authorities.
Then Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, now the sitting mayor, was up in the mayoral race against former House Speaker Prospero Nograles. Then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had former mayor Benjamin de Guzman in the vice mayoral fight.
The spiritual tone of the pastoral letter however was muddled by politics, when a top official of the archdiocese openly campaigned for Nograles and against the Dutertes
Fr. Pete Lamata, head of the Davao Archdiocese Social Action Center, even went to the point of allowing a campaign rally of Nograles inside his parish in Buhangin. The summary killing was a major issue leveled against the Dutertes.
Despite the mud-slinging, the Dutertes overwhelmingly trounced their rivals when the dust of the political battle settled down, Nograles losing by more than 220,000 votes, de Guzman eating dust and behind by more than 300,000 votes.
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the Dabawenyos’ loud call for the return of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) must be the “voice of God,” according to Duterte, commenting on a text survey that showed the Dabawenyos’ sentiments about the DDS, which had been lying low for sometime, and the resurgence of crime incidents in the city.
In the 2010 battle, no amount of dirty propaganda against the Dutertes shook the trust and confidence of the Dabawenyos on the Dutertes.
Dabawenyos saw lies and lies in the Nograles campaign, including the tall stories peddled by publicist Ed Malay of the Manila-based PR group, who was hired by Nograles to create a fake momentum of a Duterte defest through rigged and invented surveys showing a Nograles victory.
Malay had mobilized national and local papers and radio stations to carry his surveys showing Nograles grabbing as much as 90 percent of the votes against Inday Sara.
Of course history would tell that the result of the 2010 elections was a terrible defeat for Nograles’ third attempt to capture City Hall.
We heard that Nograles would attempt to take a fourth crack at City Hall in next year’s elections.
We suggest he abandon the idea.
If the Dabawenyos’ love for DDS is the voice of God, then it is the voice of God that he stop dreaming about making it as city mayor, next year or forever.
Results of the text voting on the ABS/CBN TV Patrol news program strongly favored return of the DDS.
It showed their extreme anger for violent criminals, according to Duterte who dismissed the vote meant the culture of violence is embedded in the Dabawenyos as expressed in their vote crying for the return of the DDS.
To our mind, the DDS vote is similar to the votes the Dabawenyos gave when they chose their leaders in the May elections in 2010.
We agree with Duterte when said he was sure that if all the Dabawenyos are asked, the ratio in the TV Patrol survey between votes for return of DDS against the votes of those who wanted to depend on a stronger police to arrest criminalities, would remain constant.
Duterte said the votes for the DDS would be like the votes in the contest between Inday and Nogie. His daughter Inday, now sitting Mayor Sara Duterte trounced former Speaker Prospero Nograles in the 2010 mayoral battle by more than 220,00 votes.
If the Dabawenyo votes for the DDS is overwhelming so was their dislike for Nograles.
‘You live a violent life, you die a violent death’
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte dished out this morbid warning last week to criminals, as he rushed to the scene of a shoot-out between a robbery suspect and police in Sta. Ana district.
The warning comes as police carry out orders of the vice mayor to wage an all-out campaign against criminals to stop rising crime incidents in the city.
If you live a violent life, you die a violent death, said Duterte as he was interviewed by media after congratulating the police for a “job well done.”
Duterte arrived at the scene even as the smell of gunpowder and gun smoke hang in the air, with the bullet riddled dead body of the suspect lying with his gun in an alley.
The suspect had held up a victim but bystanders alerted elements of the Sta. Ana Police precinct.
Seven people have since died from separate shootings carried out by motorcycle-rising gunmen suspected to belong to the Davao Death Squad said to be police-backed and unleashed on a vigilante mission against criminals.
Armed motorcycle-riding robbers have victimized several persons the past weeks, capped with the robbery-killing of nursing student Marjorie Kwan in Agdao.
The broad daylight outcry triggered massive public calls for the return of the DDS, which had lain low for sometime, as crime incidents rose up to alarming levels.
The DDS is blamed for summary executions of of suspected criminals since the middle 90s.
Human rights groups pegged the number of victims at more than 1000.
The extrajudicial killings sparked an investigation for human rights violation by the Commission on Human Rights which tried to link Duterte and the police to the shadowy gunmen.
DCPO chief against DDS killing spree
The police officer who could be logically considered as one of the ‘handlers’ of the deadly gunmen of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) is not in favor of ‘vigilante killings.”
I am against vigilante killing, said Davao City police chief Ronald dela Rosa. I want them arrested to face the law, he said.
Dela Rosa made the comment as several persons were killed in separate incidents here as crime incidents rose to alarming levels. The gunmen are said to be DDS elements. Public suspicion is that the DDS gunmen, which had lain low for a while, are police assets sent out on a killing rampage against criminals.
Dela Rosa assumed office as DCPO head last month with a strong warning against criminals and a vow to curb the rising crime index.
Ironically, crime incidents went zooming up in the first two weeks after he assumed office.
The shooting of the victims said to be linked to various crimes were carried out by motorcycle-riding gunmen in the fashion of past killings by the shadowy DDS. The DDS is blamed by human rights groups here as behind the vigilante-style killings of more than 1000 suspected criminals since the 90s.
Public demand for the return of the DDS rang loud as armed motorcycle-riding robbers robbed and killed nursing student Marjorie Kwan in Agdao district.
