MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said on Monday that initial findings indicated that three men police claim were suspected members of a crime gang were rubbed out, not killed in a shootout.

CHR chair Leila de Lima also told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview that the families of Vivencio Javier, 55, a former village chief; Angelito Malabanan, 35; and Rolly Lacheca, 50, who were killed last Thursday, May 22, in Tanauan City, Batangas, had agreed to have the slain men’s remains autopsied.

De Lima said the autopsies have been scheduled for Wednesday and will be conducted jointly by the CHR’s doctor and forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun.

Police earlier claimed the three slain men were members of the Javier Lucido group, a gang operating in Southern Luzon.

Although media reports identified the three, as well as Pepito Magsino, who police say was killed in an earlier shootout, as suspects in the May 16 robbery and murders at the Rizal Commercial and Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch in Cabuyao, Laguna, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police director Chief Superintendent Ricardo Padilla said there was no clear indication the slain men were involved in the bank hit.

However, he did acknowledge that the operation in which the three were killed was carried out by Task Force RCBC, the unit created to get the suspects who robbed the Cabuyao bank and killed 10 people execution-style, with shots to the head.

De Lima said the CHR’s preliminary findings showed “there are no traces of a shootout.”

This conclusion, she said, was based on eyewitness accounts, the “physical setup, bullet marks and damage in the area” where the incident happened.

She also said the police team that raided Javier’s house had no warrant of arrest for any of the three men.

“So lumalabas [So, it appears] there is no basis to implicate them [suspects] so ba’t ganun yung operation nila [why was their operation like that]?” De Lima asked.

“Even if they are already suspects,” she added, “they should not be immediately executed.”

Quoting eyewitnesses, De Lima said 10 men in civilian clothes barged into Javier’s house, looking for him.

Javier was even seen greeting the men, whom he addressed as “Sir,” after which, four gunshot wounds were heard.

Four more gunshots were heard when the group went upstairs, De Lima said.

“The position of the body, the location of [the] wounds, is inconsistent with the theory of a shootout,” she said.

Another witness saw Malabanan being dragged out of his house and shot in the head while his arms were raised, De Lima said.

Malabanan sustained 14 gunshot wounds, she said.

Lacheca, on the other hand, was seen dead outside his nipa [palm thatch] hut with a “shattered skull.”

Just on the preliminary findings, De Lima said they could “already conclude there were violations of the right to life, freedom from arbitrary execution, violations of [the rules on the] treatment and handling of suspects,” and the police’s own rules of engagement.

She added that even the Convention on the Rights of the Children had been violated because there were six or seven children on the vicinity where the three were shot.

De Lima said they will request the Philippine National Police to “identify those involved in the [Tanauan] operation,” have them preventively suspended, ask for a copy of their mission order, and have them undergo paraffin and ballistics tests.

She also said she has created a “bigger team” and given it two weeks to conduct and in-depth investigation into the Tanauan incident and submit its findings in two weeks.

After this, the CHR will conduct a public hearing into the incident.