Duterte urged to denounce vigilante killings

MANILA, Philippines - House Speaker Prospero Nograles on Sunday called on Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte to denounce the extra-judicial killings reportedly prevalent in his jurisdiction. “I’m not saying that the mayor has something to do with these [extra-judicial killings], but I hope he will at least show some interest in solving them," Nograles said. He noted that Duterte has remained silent ever since news of summarily killings broke out in Davao City, giving the impression that he is condoning it. Nograles said Duterte, a former city prosecutor and one-time congressman, has “some explaining to do" after the discovery of a mass grave in a remote part of the city containing human skeletal remains. Commission on Human Rights chair Leila de Lima claimed the skeletal remains belong to a former member of a vigilante group who was reportedly executed by his colleagues five or six years ago for knowing so much information in the summary killings in the city. Also found in the site were two government plates, SBU-278 and SDV 165, which were later traced to a vehicle owned by a city government employee and a jeep of the Davao City Police, respectively. - GMANews.TV