'Inmate's raps diverting attention from Davao Death Squad probe'

MANILA, Philippines – The charges filed by a Davao del Norte inmate against Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chief Leila de Lima and Speaker Prospero Nograles, along with six police officials, are just a smokescreen to “divert” public attention from the “genocide-like atrocities” of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS).

Thus said Nograles as he rebuffed the accusations of a certain Jonathan Balo, who alleged that he was taken out of the Panabo City jail to force him to admit his involvement in the vigilante killings.

“The CHR is an independent commission and De Lima is a very decent, courageous and relentless advocate of human rights,” he said in a statement.

Nograles called the allegations “a crude and desperate attempt by the people responsible” in the extra-judicial killings.

“Even as a Speaker, I have not in any way intervened or helped the CHR in doing its mandate. Balo’s handlers are obviously desperate these days because the blood in their hands in the genocide-like atrocities in Davao City is now beginning to show,” he said.

The charges are but a “harassment case and meant to sabotage the CHR’s investigation into the hundreds of summary killings in Davao City that are attributed to the DDS,” he added.

Nograles said Balo is a “mercenary paid by the mastermind behind the DDS,” adding that the inmate’s statement alone was “obviously scripted in an effort to put the color of politics behind the CHR’s DDS probe.”

“I just hope that this harassment case will not dampen the resolve of Chair De Lima in her effort to unmask the people behind the DDS and finally put an end to shameful and cowardly acts of violence against the citizens of Davao City,” he said.

The CHR earlier cited “breakthroughs” in its probe as a search team found skeletal remains believed to be those of DDS victims in a firing range at a quarry site in Davao City allegedly owned by a retired policeman. – With Edith Regalado