Sen. Trillanes asks Senate to investigate Davao Death Squad

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. (Photo courtesy of Trillanes’ Facebook page)

MANILA—Senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed Monday a resolution urging the Senate to investigate, in aid of legislation, the alleged extrajudicial killings purportedly committed by the Davao Death Squad (DDS).

Trillanes said his Senate Resolution No. 151 aims to come up with remedial legislation to ensure the protection of the people’s basic human rights, right to life and observance of due process of law.

The senator based his proposed Senate inquiry on the article written by Fr. Amado Picardal, who claimed 1,424 people were killed by the DDS from 1998 to 2015.

”This does not include unrecorded incidents, as well as victims from other cities and municipalities to which DDS has spread, franchise-style,” he stated in his resolution.

According to the Coalition Against Summary Execution (CASE) and the Tambayan Center for the Care of Abused Children, the documented death squad killings from Aug. 19, 1998 to Feb. 1, 2009 was 814.

Trillanes said the Constitution provides that government should value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect for human rights.

”No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the law,” he quoted Article 11 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Trillanes said when the Commission on Human Rights conducted public hearings in Davao City with regard to the killings, it identified 206 deaths attributed to the DDS between 2005 and 2009.

”These killings do not signify justice and a successful crackdown on crimes but indicate a breakdown in law and order,” he said.

In last week’s Senate inquiry, self-confessed former DDS member Edgar Matobato confirmed the presence of the squad, which he linked to former Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo Ruterte.