The group is alleged to have conducted summary executions of street children and individuals suspected of petty crimes and drug dealing.
[2][3] A 2009 report by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) noted stonewalling by local police under the mayorship of Rodrigo Duterte while a leaked cable observed a lack of public outrage among Davao residents.
[6][full citation needed][7] In a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, the victims were mostly alleged drug dealers, petty criminals, and street children.
It was reported that local officials in some areas advocated a "shoot to kill" policy with respect to criminal suspects resisting arrest.
[9] Retired Policeman Arthur Lascañas, a self-confessed leader of DDS, claims that the group was responsible for mosque bombings and the killing of a journalist during its heyday.
[10] DDS was conceptualized by former Integrated National Police Regional Commander Dionisio Tan-Gatue Jr. to fight the New People's Army's Sparrow Unit.
It condemned the then president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for tolerating the lawlessness, saying that she had, "largely turned a blind eye to the killing spree in Davao City and elsewhere.
"[11] In 2004, Arroyo announced Rodrigo Duterte as her special advisor on crime, an appointment which was viewed as signifying her approval of extrajudicial killings.
[11] In 2005, the deputy ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices suspended four senior police officials for six months without pay because of their failure to solve a number of vigilante killings in their area.
Edilberto Cepe, provincial superior, announced the passing of Picardal, 69, of “cardiac arrest” in Cebu City Busay Retreat House alongside Bruno, his dog, on the 47th year of his sacerdotal ministry.
[13] Former Davao City Mayor and former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has been heavily criticized by numerous organizations for condoning and even inciting executions to take place during his leadership.
[14] The Mayor of Davao City has done nothing to prevent these killings, and his public comments suggest that he is, in fact, supportive.In 2001–2002, Human Rights Watch reported that Duterte appeared on local television and radio and announced the names of "criminals", some of whom were later executed.
[1] In July 2005, at a crime summit in the Manila Hotel, Duterte said, "Summary execution of criminals remains the most effective way to crush kidnapping and illegal drugs".
[15] In 2008, commenting on Duterte, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said, "The mayor's positioning is frankly untenable: He dominates the city so thoroughly as to stamp out whole genres of crime, yet he remains powerless in the face of hundreds of murders committed by men without masks in view of witnesses.
[24] In September 2016, during the Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings, Edgar Matobato, a former member of the "Lambada Boys", later renamed the DDS, testified that then-Davao City Mayor Duterte ordered the group to bomb a mosque and to kill the Muslim brethren therein in 1993,[25] an event that another report on this so-called bombing placed as having been perpetrated by so-called "Christian militants" eight hours after Matobato's testified-to time of the incident, with no casualties reported.
[27][28][29] On December 14, 2016, Senator Leila de Lima reminded the public that the president's admission to committing murder is grounds for impeachment under the Philippine's current constitution.
[31] As of January 2020, the International Criminal Court confirmed that an investigation into Duterte's involvement with the death squads was ongoing, despite the Philippines having withdrawn from the ICC in 2018, because it continued to have jurisdiction over crimes committed when the country was still a member.
[32] In 2024, alleged hitman Edgar Matobato left the country with his wife and two stepchildren via identity fraud as gardener and fake passport.