More skeletal remains found in death squad's 'burial site'

MANILA, Philippines - More skeletal remains have been dug up in a suspected dumping ground of alleged victims of summary executions in Davao City, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said yesterday.

CHR chief Leila de Lima, who personally witnessed the diggings in the area last Saturday, said human bones were found in three caves in the “burial site.”

The search was covered by a new search warrant issued by Judge William Simon Peralta of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 50 last Friday.

“In one of them, and the very same cave where a human leg bone (actually a thigh bone) was earlier found, a human skull with a bullet hole and a small arm bone were found,” De Lima said.

Three license plates, which are believed fake, and bullets of various sizes and calibers were also found at the entrance of one of the caves.

The CHR said a new witness also pointed to an ipil-ipil plantation on a hill at the back of the Gold Cup Firing Range in Barangay Maa, Davao City as another dumping ground.

The new witness, a self-confessed former hit man of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), said he buried the body of another victim in that spot some five to six years ago.

“After minutes of digging and after around three to four feet deep, human bones, including thigh bones and fragments of various parts of body, were discovered,” De Lima said.

The spot where this new set of bones was found last Saturday was near or beside the sites where two sets of bones were found last July 5-6, she added.

That earlier search was covered by a search warrant issued by Manila RTC Executive Judge Romulo Lopez.

Aside from De Lima, other people present during the digging last weekend were a lawyer of the property owner, personnel of the Regional Mobile Group who were securing the area, and the local media.

The CHR first reported the discovery of skeletal remains at the Gold Cup Firing Range last July 7, as part of its continuing investigation into the DDS.  

The CHR said the property is allegedly owned and operated by a retired policeman, identified as SPO4 Bienvenido Laud, alias Tatay Laud.