DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Police are claiming credit for a decline in the number of summary killings in Southern Mindanao, refusing to link the downtrend to an investigation being conducted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

Supt. Querubin Manalang, regional police spokesperson, said the CHR investigation had nothing to do with the decline but acknowledged that the killings abated when the CHR started probing more than 800 cases of summary killings in this city alone since 1998.

“The decrease is because of the efforts of the Philippine National Police to curb the crime rate in the region, especially in (Davao) city,” Manalang said.

In May, only four killings took place in the region compared to 10 in April.

Manalang did not say if any of the killings involved suspected criminals or drug suspects, but only spoke of general figures.

He said police were trying their best to curb criminality despite the lack of logistics.

“We do not want people to blame us for laxity,” he said.

The alleged involvement of police in the operation of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS) has fueled cynicism that the killings would ever be solved. The attacks usually occur in broad daylight and in areas where police presence was expected.

During the CHR investigation, its chair, Leila de Lima, said she was convinced that the DDS existed and that the group was receiving support from some officials.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has denied involvement in the group’s operations. Riza Acac, Inquirer Mindanao