THE exhumation of alleged summary execution victims at Laud Quarry in Ma-a, Davao City was done in coordination with the Davao City Police Office.

This was the clarification made by DCPO chief Senior Supt. Ramon Apolinario on Thursday after reports claimed that the DCPO was bypassed by the Philippine National Police operatives from Camp Crame who took charge of the exhumation.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

In an interview, Apolinario said the PNP-Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) informed his office regarding the exhumation on the day they started at the Gold Cup firing range.

Apolinario said he saw nothing wrong with the exhumation conducted by the PNP-SITG from Camp Crame upon the direction of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

He said such things happen especially if the national agencies are conducting the operation.

The CHR-led exhumation started Sunday and is still ongoing as of this posting. In a statement, CHR said that they are now on the thick of their probe. The CHR said that information on the site of the alleged graveyard of the shadowy Davao Death Squad (DDS) victims came from a "former self-confessed DDS member."

Based on the sworn statement of a witness, the PNP Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) applied for a search warrant before the Regional Trail Court Branch 34 of Manila.

The site is believed to be dumping ground of bodies of victims of summary killings, according to the informants of the CHR.

The CHR statement said that the burial site where human skeletal remains were found is more or less a five-minute trek after ascending at 75 degrees in a narrow human trail.