Senators to probe surge in drug hits

Caloocan teen’s killing sparks outrage

MANILA, Philippines - Senators crossed party lines yesterday and are set to conduct an inquiry into a recent surge in drug-related police killings following the apparent summary execution of a 17-year-old boy by police in Caloocan.

Surveillance camera footage showed Kian Lloyd delos Santos, a Grade 11 student, being dragged by the police on Wednesday night before he was shot to death.

Weeping witnesses recalled how Delos Santos, clad in a shirt and loose shorts, was made to act like he fought it out with the police, prompting them to shoot back.

The case of Delos Santos sparked outrage, with even President Duterte’s allies in the Senate expressing alarm over the recent spike in drug-related killings.

Various groups condemned the actions of the police and the hashtag #JusticeForKian was among the trending topics on social media yesterday.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said there is enough evidence to warrant an inquiry into the killing of Delos Santos as caught by a CCTV camera of the barangay where he was gunned down.

“That case of the 17-year-old victim, we’ll investigate that because there’s evidence,” Gordon said in a telephone interview.

He said while he strongly backs Duterte’s campaign against drugs, “we must be fair” and protect the rule of law.

Delos Santos was not the first young casualty of the drug war. There have been minors caught up in previous anti-drug operations but Delos Santos’ killing coincided with many others that occurred in the last few days as police further intensified their campaign against the illegal drug trade.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said the huge number of drug suspects killed after they allegedly fired at lawmen seemed “contrived.”

“It’s worrisome, to say the least, coming even from somebody who in his previous lifetime as a law enforcer was a natural suspect in violating human rights of crime suspects that we used to pursue,” Lacson said, referring to his previous job as chief of the Philippine National Police.

Most of those who saw the CCTV footage described the incident as heartbreaking and noted it could not be a case of “nanlaban” or fighting it out with the police but a staged drug encounter.

“Kian can be anything he wants to be, a doctor or an engineer. But (President) Duterte reduced to a mere statistic,” Twitter user don r.b. (@donthebasher) posted.

Delos Santos’ father, Zaldy told ABS-CBN News his son actually wanted to be a policeman and was a good young man not into drugs. He said his son was treated like a pig, and vowed to seek justice.

Witnesses were emotional as they said in the same interview that the teenager bought something from the store and did not carry a gun, contrary to police claims. They added the police forced the gun into the hand of Delos Santos, who was already crying as he asked what he would do with it, and ordered him to fire a shot and run before he was killed.

Sen. Grace Poe, vice chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said it would be “constructive” of the chamber to conduct an inquiry into the spate of EJKs as the proceedings could be monitored by the public.

Cruel

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said its regional office in Metro Manila will begin the investigation on the matter.

CHR chairman Chito Gascon reiterated their call for law enforcement authorities to respect at all times “both the human rights guarantees in our laws and their established operations procedures,” he said. “Perpetrators must be held to account.”

In a separate statement, the National Youth Commission (NYC) urged an independent investigation into the death of Delos Santos.

Funeral workers carry the body of a drug suspect killed by police in Navotas yesterday. STAR/Joven Cagande

“We want to curb the drug menace; however, we are alarmed by the deaths and injury of minors in the process,” NYC chair Aiza Seguerra said, citing the Bill of Rights recognizing the vital role of the youth in nation building and mandating the promotion of their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being.

“Hence, each child offender must undergo the due process of law,” the NYC chief added.

The NYC cited the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which notes that any minor accused of having infringed the penal law has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“In the same charter, no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The same provision reiterates the child’s sense of dignity and worth,” the NYC said.

“Similarly, Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act that protects the interest of children in conflict with the law, demands that the child be treated with humanity and respect and not to be subjected to torture or cruel or degrading treatment or punishment,” the NYC added.

Madella Santiago, executive director of the Association for the Rights of Children in Southeast Asia, called on the public to unite against the government’s deadly anti-illegal drug campaign following the death of Delos Santos.

“The killing of Kian Lloyd delos Santos is enraging. It not only exposes police brutality but the Duterte government’s bloodlust, claiming even innocent lives of children and youth,” Santiago said.

“The Dutertegovernment is a coward. It can only purge the poor and vulnerable while those syndicates, narco-politicians and narco-generals and cops who should be treated with punitive actions are roaming scot-free.”

Santiago expressed alarm over the rising deaths in relation to the drug war and urged the government to take a different route in addressing the drug problem.

“We as child rights advocates are enraged and demand due justice for Kian and his family. But more than this, the Filipino public should not accept killing as a norm but to collectively show its outrage against anti-children, anti-poor and anti-people policies of the administration because one killing is too many,” she said.

Duterte warned

Aside from pushing for an investigation, senators also warned Duterte against encouraging EJKs in the course of the war on drugs, which they said could go out of control.

Gordon said Filipinos overwhelmingly elected Duterte last year because of his promise to eradicate illegal drugs in the country “but there’s such a thing as overkill.”

“Even in war, there are rules… drugs is the enemy and this is war but do it within the rules,” Gordon said.

“I would advise the President, as a friend, to restrain himself,” he said. “You cannot fight the drug menace just by killing—you must go to the source.”

When asked whether Duterte’s harsh warnings of death befalling those involved in illegal drugs are stoking the killings, he said: “There might be pressure.”

Gordon and Lacson said the anti-drug campaign will be better supported if the dead street level drug pushers – who reportedly fought back at police officers – were alive so that they could point to their suppliers.

When the suppliers are arrested, the law enforcers should also make sure they’re alive so they could also point to the source of drugs. “So when you have these thousands (of suspects), you can create a tapestry…you can go on a voyage, even to the people who are abroad (to get to the source),” the Gordon said.

Gordon also said he found it “disconcerting” that in most of the cases of extrajudicial killings, there are no witnesses who could help in the investigation.

He said this is probably because the potential witnesses believe the police are involved.

He prodded the Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Service (IAS) to act swiftly in investigating PNP members accused of summary executions.

Lacson said he found puzzling that Duterte’s passion in fighting illegal drugs is only aimed at demand reduction by killing drug pushers “but evidently wanting in the supply constriction effort.”

He also wondered why Duterte was not hitting hard on personnel of the Bureau of Customs responsible, directly or indirectly for the apparent free flow into the country of tons of high-grade methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu coming from China.

“That, for the life of me, I can’t understand,” Lacson said.

Lacson said he does not want to preempt the investigations being conducted by PNP-IAS and the Department of Justice but reminded them to be fair and objective in conducting their probes to save whatever credibility is left in them brought about by the case of Supt. Marvin Marcos, who was detained for the killing of Albuera mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.

But the charges against Marcos and his team were downgraded and they were released on bail.

While still supportive of Duterte’s war on drugs, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said the “intensified killings are being used by some rogue police officers” to cover their misdeeds or even involvement in drugs, knowing that the President has vowed to protect them.

He said “one living proof” was Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido, who led the raid that killed Ozamiz City mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and several others, “whose sheer arrogance should be a cause for concern.”

He said Espenido’s warning to suspected narco-politicians that they will be next to be killed was “a display of misplaced bravado and abuse.”

Sen. Sonny Angara said Duterte must work to make sure Filipinos will have trust and faith in the country’s justice system. “We need our people to believe in the justice system. Vigilante justice is not a systemic and long-term solution,” Angara said.

“We need to ensure that we are not creating killing machines. We need speedy justice machines, and ensure that we are strengthening our institutions like the courts, the police, the prosecutors,” Angara said in a statement.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said it was possible that Delos Santos was murdered by the police officers who accosted him.

“A Senate investigation is therefore necessary to establish the true facts, and to ensure that the integrity of the PNP remains intact,” Gatchalian said, adding the anti-drug operation must be done through legal means and impunity should not become a norm.

Deranged, monster

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima slammed Duterte for praising police operations particularly in Bulacan that led to the deaths of 32 drug suspects, saying only a person with a “deranged mind” could make such a statement.

De Lima said this during a brief interview after she attended a hearing on drug charges filed by the government against her at the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court.

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV also called for an investigation into the drug-related killings as Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the country “paid a very dear price” for the President’s error in thinking he could wipe out drugs in six months.

The price, she said, were “8,000 to 12,000 deaths due to the abusive and corrupt war on drugs.”

“What needs to change is the President’s thirst for blood. The Duterte government cannot kill its way out of the drug problem,” Hontiveros said.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a critic of the administration, described Duterte as “a monster who craves killings.”

“Duterte lies and deceives just to get his way. He is a monster who craves killings and tries to justify it through lies, deception and twisted logic,” Trillanes said.

“I fervently pray for the day that Filipinos would finally wake up and realize it,” he said.

Since Wednesday, 73 people have been killed as Duterte renewed his deadly warning to those into illegal drugs.

Duterte lauded the police for the operations in Bulacan, adding that more pushers should be killed to reduce the drug problem in the country.

“No respect for the law, no respect for the dignity of life. They are butchers, they are really evil butchers,” De Lima, who is in jail on drug-related charges, said.

De Lima also scored Duterte for threatening to kill human rights advocates critical of his anti-drug campaign – “another proof that we’re talking here about a deranged mind.”

She said it is time for Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to be charged for admitting that the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had been remiss in probing the EJKs taking place in the country.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, a strong anti-drugs advocate in the chamber, said there was nothing to worry about Duterte’s harsh warnings, adding he himself raised alarm about the spread of drugs in the country 25 years ago.

“Drug dealers, drug users, and those connected to illegal drugs should be concerned,” Sotto said.

But Malolos, Bulacan Bishop Jose Oliveros expressed concern over the reported EJKs and said the police probably want to impress the President.

Oliveros expressed hope the government would give priority to the rehabilitation program and treat drug addiction more as a sickness rather than a crime. –With Emmanuel Tupas, Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan