The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday said skeletal remains have been found on a suspected dumping ground in Davao City of bodies of alleged victims of summary executions by the alleged Davao Death Squad (DDS).

CHR, in a press release Tuesday, said the skeletal remains were found in “Gold Cup Firing Range. a privately-owned premises, run and operated by a retired policeman, retired [Senior Police Officer 4] (SPO4) Bienvenido Laud alias Tatay Laud.”

The area is believed to be the dumping ground of bodies of victims of summary killings of DDS, according to informants, said the DHR.

The human rights body said the remains were found by a police Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) formed after the CHR created a multi-sectoral task force to investigate the alleged summary killings perpetrated by DDS. The task force is composed of representatives from the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Department of Justice, Department of National Defense and Department of Interior and Local Government.

According to CHR, the remains were found by the SITG at the site on its first day of digging. CHR said “diggings immediately undertaken resulted in the findings of several fragments identified by the SOCO (Scene-of-the-Crime Operations) as human remains.

The site excavation was made possible after a search warrant was issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 34 of Manila and was based on the sworn statement of “a former self-confessed DDS member/eyewitness,” said the CHR release.

The CHR also said that lawyers of the property owner arrived on the second day and demanded a stop to the digging but the SITG, CHR said, held its ground and continued the search.

The CHR said that the SITG also found an item that “appears to be a human leg bone” while on its way to the site on the second day. The human tights body said that a new search warrant was sought since the area where the new item was discovered was not covered by the search warrant issued by the court. The warrant, it said, which was filed at the RTC-Davao City has yet to issued. The area where the new item was found is however being “cordoned for security” said the CHR.

The CHR said that with the positive results in the search of the area, it is confident that more human remains would be found.

CHR Chairwoman Leila de Lima had earlier said the vigilante-style murders of alleged criminals, drug dealers and even streetchildren in Davao City is a rights issue that should be examined by the country's highest governing bodies. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report earlier recorded 124 vigilante-style killings in Davao last year with an additional 33 killings reported in January 2009.

De Lima had earlier alleged however that top national and Davao City executives were “in denial’ over the issue.