A.

MANILA 177409
REFERENCES
B. MANILA 1253
C. MANILA 0587
D. MANILA 0312
E. MANILA 0129

Classified By: Political Officer Timothy Cipullo

for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 1

(SBU) Summary: Extra-judicial killings of suspected

criminals in Davao and Cebu are on the increase. So far,
137 have been slain this year in Davao and 77 in Cebu. No
arrests have been made. The killings appear to have spread
to other localities: there have been several recent
slayings in the Cebu Province towns of Toledo and Carcar.
The killings seem very popular with the publics in Davao
and Cebu, although human rights groups and the Catholic
Church continue to condemn them. Mission continues to urge
respect for the rule of law, and the apprehension and
prosecution of those responsible. End Summary.

------------------------
Uptick in Davao Killings
------------------------
2. (U) The number of vigilante-style executions of
suspected drug pushers and other alleged criminals has
increased in the cities of Davao in Mindanao and Cebu in
the central Visayan region. Kabataan Consortium, a Davao
City-based human rights advocacy group and founding member
of the Coalition Against Summary Executions (CASE), has
documented 137 cases of summary executions in Davao City
from January to August 2005. This surpasses the number of
such killings by suspected members of the "Davao Death
Squad" or "DDS" for the entire year of 2004, when
vigilantes murdered 104 suspected criminals, according to
Kabataan Consortium. (Note: The DDS is a shadowy vigilante
group that apparently has carried out the bulk of the
killings.) Based on what Mission has heard, the killings
remain popular among Davao citizens.

3. (U) As of August 15, authorities have not filed a

single case related to the killings in Davao in 2005. Two
cases filed last year were both dismissed because
relatives of the victims withdrew their complaints. In
June 2005, the wing of the Office of the Ombudsman
responsible for Mindanao ordered a six-month suspension of
a former police chief and three precinct commanders in
Davao for alleged negligence, inefficiency, and
incompetence in failing to solve cases of summary
executions within the Davao jurisdiction. However, the
Court of Appeals on July 4 issued a temporary restraining
order that reinstated the four while their case is
reviewed on appeal. Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte publicly
defended the four men and has set up a legal defense fund
to assist them.

---------------------
More Slayings in Cebu
---------------------
4. (C) In the meantime, according to contacts and media
sources, the number of extra-judicial killings in Cebu
City has risen to 77, as of August 2 -- an increase of 36
since April 2005 (see ref a). (Note: The killings in Cebu
basically began in December 2004. There was no previous
pattern of extra-judicial killings in the locality. End
Note). Observers blame the killings on a special squad of
police officers purportedly tasked to go after criminal
elements in the city, called the "hunter team." The team
was formed by Cebu Mayor Tommy Osmena in December 2004
(see ref E 0129). A wave of criticism by lawyers and civil
society groups, led by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Cebu,
prompted Director General of the Philippine National
Police (PNP) General Arturo Lomibao to promise in April
that the police would investigate all such cases. Lomibao
also formed a task force to look into the situation, which
reportedly has not yet completed its investigation. The
gangland-style executions coincided with an escalating
turf war between drug traders blamed for the proliferation
of methamphetamine hydrochloride in the streets and
allegations that the actions of Osmena’s “hunter team” has
played down into favoring one of the turf-related
conflicts (See reftel 0312; 0587).
The authorities declined to comment on reports that Osmena
and certain police officers were protecting a drug lord
from nearby Leyte island and another one from the southern
part of the Cebu island. Nonetheless, as in Davao, all of
the killings this year in Cebu remain unsolved. John
Domingo, the U.S. Consular Agent in Cebu (Amcit -- pls
protect), told Acting Pol/C on August 12 that the killings
remain very popular with the Cebu public, despite the
criticism. He said average Cebuanos feel that street crime
has gone way down due to the killings and they appreciate
that.

--------------------
A Spreading Problem
--------------------
5. (SBU) The practice of executing suspected criminals
appears to have recently spread from Cebu City to the
neighboring localities of Toledo and Carcar, also located
on Cebu island. In early August two suspected drug dealers
were gunned down in Toledo and a suspected criminal was
killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Carcar (the same
modus operandi of many of the killings in Cebu City).
Fearing that the wave of killings has spread outside of
Cebu City, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia ordered the
police to look into the killings and to submit a report on
steps they will take to prevent the escalation of
vigilante-style killings in Cebu Province. (Note: Cebu
City is a self-governing municipality outside of the
jurisdiction of Cebu Province. End Note)

---------
Comment
---------
6. (C) As was noted, despite the criticism of human rights
groups and the Catholic Church, the killings seem very
popular with the publics in Davao and Cebu. Mayors Duterte
and Osmena clearly condone the killings -- which have not
hurt their political standing in the slightest and
apparently given them some bounce in popularity (though
Osmena reportedly remains a generally unpopular mayor for
other reasons). Davao, the largest city in Mindanao, has
faced this sort of recurring violence for some time. It is
a new phenomenon for Cebu, however, which is the
Philippines' second largest city and a major trade
entrepot. Moreover, Cebu heretofore had a positive
reputation as a city that respected the rule of law and
human rights. Given the example of these two important
cities, it seemed only time before the killings spread to
other places, as seems to be the case in Toledo and
Carcar, where another party in the meth drug proliferation
turf war is building its base and appears to be the
favored receiving in the killings.
JOHNSON

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