US lawmakers concerned over Davao killings

MANILA, Philippines – American lawmakers have expressed concern over scores of unsolved killings in Davao City that have been perpetrated reportedly by a death squad enjoying protection from local authorities.

Special mention has been made of the existence of such a group in Resolution 3081 that the United States House of Representatives has approved.

The resolution is entitled, “An Act making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010, and for other purposes.”

It allocates funds for foreign governments, programs and non-government organizations receiving assistance from the US.

A counterpart resolution is reportedly pending in the US Senate.

Under the House version, the Philippines would receive in 2010 military assistance “not to exceed $30,000,000… of which $2,000,000 may not be obligated” until the Secretary of State reports in writing to the committees on appropriation of the US Congress Philippine compliance on human rights-related conditions.

The first condition urges the Philippine government to take steps to carry out the recommendations of United States human rights official Philip Alston, who has blamed unsolved political killings on rogue elements of the military.

US lawmakers want an assurance that there would be “prosecutions and convictions for extrajudicial executions” and that the government is “addressing allegations of a death squad in Davao City.”

Speaker Prospero Nograles, who was in Washington two weeks ago for meetings with his counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said he was ashamed to hear that the release of $2 million in military aid was tied in part to the solution of unsolved killings in his city.