Members of the City Council yesterday expressed alarm over the sudden rise in killings in Davao City after several months of relative peace.
Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad called on the police to get to the bottom of the killings which claimed 15 lives in August.
Councilor Nilo Abellera, for his part, said he knows the police are doing their best to solve the crimes but need the cooperation of the people.
“The policemen are usually not present when such killings occur,” he said.
Abellera said those who witness the killings must come out and tell the police what they know.
Summary killings dipped in the past few months as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) began an intensive investigation into them.
CHR chair Leila de Lima has said she believes the killings are being perpetrated by a vigilante group called the Davao Death Squad (DDS) which she has directly linked to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte has denied the allegation. At the height of the CHR probe, he went on leave to give the investigators a free hand.
Duterte reported back to work in August.
