DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – A sworn statement of a “former self-confessed DDS (Davao Death Squad) member/eyewitness” led to the ongoing exhumation of human remains at the Laud Firing Range and Quarry here, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) national office said in its press release on July 7.

The CHR said the area is “believed to be the dumping ground of bodies of victims of summary killings.”

The CHR had earlier created a multi-sectoral task force composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Department of Justice, Department of National Defense and Department of Interior and Local Government.

The CHR said that based on the sworn statement of the former DDS operative, the Philippine National Police’s Special Investigation Task Group (SITG), applied for and was granted a search warrant by the Regional Trial Court Branch 34 in Manila, authorizing it to “search the area, more particularly described as Gold Cup Firing Range, a privately owned premises, run and operated by a retired policeman, retired SPO4 Bienvenido Laud alias Tatay Laud.”

The team arrived on Sunday.

“The burial site takes more or less five minutes trek from ascending at 75 degrees in a narrow human trail to reach the burial site described in the search warrant. Diggings immediately undertaken resulted in the findings of several fragments identified by the Scene of the Crime Operatives as human remains,” the CHR press release said.

The CHR said lawyers of arrived on the second day, Monday, demanding a stop to any form of diggings, “coupled with threats of criminal prosecution” but the search team held its ground.

Also on Monday, the search team chanced upon a creek with apparently man-made pit “where their attention was called by an object which when checked appears to be a human leg bone.”

The area not being part of the search warrant, it was “preserved and cordoned for security.”

The team then sought to apply for a new search warrant at the Regional Trial Court in Davao City but according to the CHR, the application was “passed from one judge up to the fourth who appeared to reluctantly conduct the summary proceedings.”

“At one point, the presiding judge made a very discouraging comment: ‘Alam nyo ba ginagawa nyo?’ (Do you know what you’re doing?),” the CHR quoted the judge as asking.

The presiding judge, the CHR added, “promised to act on the application before 5 p.m. July 6, only to change his mind in a matter of less than five minutes by directing applicant to wait for the following day, July 7. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the search warrant has not been issued yet.”

The CHR e-mailed MindaNews a copy of the press release at 3:02 p.m. on July 7.

Despite the setbacks, however, the PNP/CIDG team is “very optimistic that more remnants of summary executions are about to be unearthed.”

“The multi-agency task force, particularly the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Philippine National Police (PNP) assures the public that this no nonsense effort will continue without leaving any stone unturned to carry out its mandate within the legally established procedure allowed under existing laws,” it said.

The ongoing search is being implemented by the SITG team led by “Police Sr. Supt. Fajardo, CIDG-NCR under, PSI Sy, CLS led by PC1 Palmero, Atty Villena of HRAO, CIDG PRO11 led by PSupt. Masauding, assisted by elements of Regional Mobile Group (RMG) under Police Sr. Supt. Quinsay, Pacer Mindanao led by Police Sr. Supt. Biones.”

The area where exhumation is being conducted is presently secured by the RMG. Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews