Victim’s dad belies safer daytime Tokhang

MANILA, Philippines — Shaking with rage, the father of a nine-year-old victim of extrajudicial killing (EJK) in Caloocan City yesterday criticized the resumption of Oplan Tokhang by the police. 

“Whatever time or date it is, no matter how they make it appear, the outcome would be the same – there will always be collateral damage,” Rodrigo Baylon said in a press conference in Bagong Silang, Caloocan.

He belied claims by the Philippine National Police that daytime Tokhang operations would minimize deaths during anti-illegal drug operations.

He cited the case of his son, Lenin who was killed by stray bullets in broad daylight that came from three masked men who shot dead two suspected drug pushers Imelda Dallego and Lalyn Manaog in December 2016.

Lenin was helping out at a nearby tailor’s shop to earn lunch money, Baylon said.

Baylon called out President Duterte and PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa for downplaying as noise the pleas for justice by the families of EJK victims.

“General Bato would say they just want attention. If the victim was his child?” he asked.

Such accounts by families about their loved ones being killed in broad daylight belie police claims that daytime Tokhang would be safer, said Rubilyn Litao, coordinator for the group Rise Up For Life and For Rights.

“It only means one thing – murderers do not choose the time of their killings,” Baylon said.