For years now, there has been talk about the infamous Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group that has supposedly targeted the criminals in Davao City.
In fact, before Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte joined the presidential race, he was asked about his connection to the said group.
Duterte on the DDS
In a May 2015 report by ABS-CBN News, Duterte — who is now the country’s incoming President — was quoted as saying, “Ako, ako daw death squad (They say I’m the death squad)? True, that’s true.”
He had reportedly made the declaration in his weekly local TV show Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa (From the Masses, For the Masses).
A study done by Human Rights Watch claimed that there have been around 1,000 killings committed by the Davao Death Squad since the late 1990s.
Meanwhile, a Commission on Human Rights investigation in 2012 found probable cause to recommend that the Office of the Ombudsman file murder charges against Duterte in connection with the said DDS assassinations.
The Ombudsman, however, limited its investigation to police officers linked to the killings and found 21 guilty of “simple neglect of duty.”
Before he was officially part of the presidential race, Duterte had warned the public in various interviews, “Pag naging Presidente ako, magtago na kayo. Yung 1,000 na ‘yan it would reach 50,000 (If I become President, you better hide. That 1,000 will become 50,000).”
However, Duterte later retracted what he said about the DDS.
In a May 26, 2015 press conference, CNN Philippines revealed that he told reporters, “I have denied that DDS is a criminal group. There’s no such thing as a DDS. There’s only a Davao Development System — that is my guiding principle.”
Dark Reality
The issue about the DDS hasn’t really gone away.
A year after Duterte’s DDS-related statements, Reuters has published a report entitled, “Philippine death squads very much in business as Duterte set for presidency,” by Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato.
The May 25, 2016, story begins with the revelation that “on May 14, five days after voters in the Philippines chose Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as their next president, two masked gunmen cruised (Davao City’s) suburbs on a motorbike, looking for their kill.”
The “kill” referred to was later identified as Gil Gabrillo, 47, an alleged drug user, who was returning from a cockfight when the gunmen caught up with him and shot him multiple times.
Reuters noted: “The murder made no headlines in Davao, where Duterte’s loud approval for hundreds of execution-style killings of drug users and criminals over nearly two decades helped propel him to the highest office of a crime-weary land.”
As with other reports on the vigilante-style killings in Davao City, Marshall and Mogato cited the Human Rights Watch, which has alleged that “acting and retired police officers worked as ‘handlers’ for death-squad gunmen, giving them names and photos of targets.” The allegation has been denied by Davao police.
The report added, “A four-year probe into such killings by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippines’ equivalent of the FBI, hasn’t led to a single prosecution, and one senior NBI agent told Reuters it will probably be shelved now that Duterte is set to become President.”
People’s Choice
Human rights groups have also pointed out that DDS victims are often small-time criminals and have included street children.
Despite that, Duterte’s followers back his perceived “instant justice” moves. Pundits speculate that people are already fed up with the slow process of obtaining justice, a problem that has plagued the country for the longest time.
That is mainly the reason why so many people voted for Duterte despite his not-quite-by-the-book approach in governance, especially when it comes to curbing the crime rate.
The majority has spoken and they want Duterte to replicate what he has done for Davao City — whether or not the DDS is involved.
