Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered police and local government officials Wednesday to investigate the alleged existence of a death squad said to have killed more than 800 people in the past decade in a southern city.

Arroyo directed the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police "to undertake all measures to get to the bottom of this issue," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

"The Philippine government does not, nor will it ever, condone, tolerate, abet, encourage, much less sponsor such kinds of actions for any reason or at any time," Ermita said in announcing the president's directive.

"Criminality is a social malaise that can never be remedied by such executions, which are illegal as they are immoral," he added.

The directive came more than one month after the New York-based Human Rights Watch released a report detailing the activities of the death squad in Davao City, 990 kilometres south of Manila.

The group's report, You Can Die Any Time: Death Squad Killings in Mindanao, alleged that local police officers and village officials were involved in the killings of suspected drug dealers, petty criminals and even street children in Davao City.

It warned that the murders by the Davao Death Squad steadily increased in past years, and replicated in other cities in the Philippines, including possibly in Manila.

"From two reported cases in 1998, the number rose to 98 in 2003, and 124 in 2008," the report said. "In 2009, 33 targeted killings were reported in January alone."

According to the report, the Philippines' Coalition Against Summary Execution has documented 814 death squad killings in Davao City from August 19, 1998 to February 1, 2009.

Ermita said Arroyo directed the police and local government officials to "first and foremost" determine the actual existence of the Davao Death Squad and to prosecute the perpetrators.

"The president likewise calls upon our citizens who may know of the existence of these so-called death squads and who can testify on alleged cases to come forward and be heard," he added.

Prior to the Human Rights Watch report, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights began an investigation into the alleged killings of the Davao Death Squad but the probe was hampered by lack of witnesses due to fear of reprisals.

Ermita stressed the need for victims to file court cases against suspects, witnesses to come forward and evidences presented to substantiate the alleged existence of the Davao Death Squad.

"There is no room for hearsay evidence, which is inadmissible in court," he said. "At present, there has been no report on any person or group who has been charged, much less convicted of murder or any crime for engaging such barbaric acts." (dpa)