Davao Death Squad

The Davao Death Squad (DDS) is a vigilante group supposedly active in Davao City in the Philippines. The group is allegedly responsible for summary executions of individuals suspected of petty crimes and dealing in drugs in Davao. It has been estimated that the group is responsible for the killing or disappearance of between 1,020 and 1,040 people between 1998 and 2008.

A team from Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), a human rights group, and investigators from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) discovered where skeletal remains of victims of the death squads were dumped. Human Rights Commissioner Dominador Calamba II has indicated that local executives and the police knew the militants but were "seemingly tolerating" them. Human rights groups said the killings have become an unwritten government policy to deal with crime due to an ill-functioning criminal justice system and lack of due process in the way authorities administered justice.

According to Amnesty International and local human rights groups, there were over 300 people killed in Davao City by death squads between 1998 and 2005. The rate of killing accelerated after this so that between 2005 and 2008 death squads were responsible for between 700 and 720 murders. According to a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, the victims were selected because they were suspected of being drug dealers, child rapists, murderers and other repeat offending criminals. Amnesty International states, killings and extrajudicial executions continued throughout the year, particularly of criminal suspects. In Mindanao many such killings, including those of minors, were attributed to the so-called “Davao Death Squad” vigilante group. It was reported that local officials in some areas advocated a “shoot to kill” policy with respect to criminal suspects resisting arrest.

DDS was conceptualized by former INP Regional Commander Dionisio Tan-Gatue Jr. to counter and fight the notorious NPA Sparrow unit. Commander Tan-Gaute Jr. used the late Juan "Jun" Pala, a known NPA propagandist and radio commentator to spread this ghost squad. This act somehow managed to curb the Sparrow perpetrated executions. By mid-1997 were deemed responsible for more than 60 unsolved murders in the city. It is believed that the original members of the death squad were former members of the New People's Army (NPA). Initially the death squad had around ten members but this had increased to around 500 by 2009.

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