House Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. said Wednesday that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte can be held liable for "resigning" as deputized representative of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) in the local executive's area of responsibility.

"This deputation may be suspended or revoked on legal grounds... There are no direct provisions of the law for resignation," Nograles said, referring to the Republic Act 6975 or the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990.

The speaker said that by resigning as Napolcom's deputized representative for Davao, Duterte can be held criminally liable for dereliction of duty.

The mayor tendered his resignation on Tuesday amid a probe of extrajudicial killings in the city.

Duterte said he wanted to give the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) a free hand in its investigation on the series of unsolved killings in the city. The mayor also terminated his relationship with Task Force Davao with respect to the implementation of security matters.

Duterte on Monday denied under oath that he had a hand in the summary executions, which, according to the CHR, has claimed the lives of 375 people from 2005 to 2008. He also vowed to resign from his post should the CHR prove that he ordered the murders of suspected criminals in the city.

In his testimony to the CHR, the mayor urged the commission to push for amendments to the Juvenile Justice Law, which prevents law enforcers from prosecuting criminal offenders who are below 18 years old. He said the law allows minors to circumvent the law because they could not be detained longer than 24 hours.

Malacañang, meanwhile, said it supports the CHR inquiry into the “unexplained killings” in Davao.

Lorelei Fajardo, deputy presidential spokeswoman, said President Arroyo has directed the Philippine National Police and the military to give CHR their full support.

Fajardo said the CHR investigation, aside from determining the correct number of cases and pinpointing criminal responsibility for the killings, should also give justice to the victims and their families. With a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News