2009 CHR Report: There is no Davao Death Squad

In June 2009, CHR officials then headed by Leila De Lima trooped Davao City to investigate the alleged extra judicial killings and tried to pin down then Mayor Rody Duterte - but failed. 

One of the sites they checked was the Laud quarry site in Barangay Maa, the alleged site where dead bodies were dumped by the shadowy group Davao Death Squad (DDS). 

De Lima's group was able to dug up one human skeleton purportedly of a victim of the DDS.

Screengrab from Abs-Cbn report. Siena Luchansky AFP

After all the spectacle and De Lima's shenanigans in the entire course of the investigation, CHR itself declared that the skeleton found wasn't related to DDS. The same report also ruled out that the vigilante group is nothing by a mere urban legend.

That report came directly from the CHR, the group that De Lima heads. 

On Thursday at the senate inquiry for drug-related killings, the issue about DDS was once again brought into the limelight with the testimony of Edgar Matobato as self-confessed hit man who claimed to be a former member of the DDS. 

Matobato claimed that it was indeed at Laud quarry where they dump the remains of the people they have killed. 

Matobato also cited Gaisano compound and San Rafael Village as the sites where they dump dead bodies. But these claims were immediately dismissed by the residents saying that there were no news about these incidents in the past.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano who was present at the hearing reiterated the findings of the CHR and the Ombudsman that basically belies the testimony of Matobato. 

The senate inquiry will resume on Tuesday next week.