TACLOBAN CITY?Eastern Visayas ranks second, behind only Davao, in the number of extrajudicial killings over a period of eight years, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said on Thursday.

Speaking at an en banc public hearing in Calbayog City, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima said the number of extrajudicial killings in the Samar provinces alone had made Eastern Visayas the region with the second highest number of such killings.

De Lima and other CHR commissioners?Manuel Mamaug, Norberto de La Cruz and Ma. Victoria Cardona?were in Calbayog City on Thursday to conduct a public hearing on a spate of killings in Samar.

One of the victims was Catholic priest Fr. Cecilio Lucero who was killed by still unidentified assailants on Sept. 6.

De Lima disclosed that the CHR regional office has taken ?cognizance? of 67 extrajudicial killings that occurred in the region from 2005 to November 2009.

There were four extrajudicial killings in the region in 2005, three in 2006, 11 in 2007, 38 in 2008 and 11 in 2009, she said.

All of these cases were either dismissed or archived for lack of evidence or witnesses, De Lima said.

De Lima also made special mention of the case of Father Lucero.

?What disturbs us the most is the banner case of Fr. Cecilio Lucero. His work in protecting those who are marginalized in their human rights was put to a dastardly end by four or five assassins,? De Lima said at the hearing.

She also said the killing of Lucero, a known human rights activist in Northern Samar, was sign of a ?brazen, fearless and audacious conspiracy to crush and suppress human rights.?

Lucero was the brother of former Rep. Wilmar Lucero and Northern Samar Vice Gov. Antonio Lucero.

The military denied any involvement in the extra-legal killings in Samar.

When asked by De Lima if the military was involved in the killings, Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, commanding general of the 8th Infantry Division, insisted that the military had no role in these crimes.