But will it last?

Is that public outrage, at last?

It wasn’t the number of deaths that triggered it, but the background of one victim and the circumstances of his execution, although the unusual surge last week in drug killings by police in Bulacan and Manila must have contributed to a buildup in the outrage. Combined with the CCTV footage that caught the murderers in the act, it is painful to look the other way – as we have done in the thousands of drug deaths since last year – in the face of the summary execution of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos.

The 11th grader worked at the modest neighborhood store put up by his father in Caloocan to augment the remittances sent by Kian’s mother Lorenza, who rushed home from Saudi Arabia where she is working as a maid. Kian reportedly had no vice and did not register under Oplan Tokhang – although Caloocan prosecutor Darwin Cañete looks determined to pronounce the boy guilty unless he can rise from the grave and prove his innocence. Kian’s father, by some accounts, voted for President Duterte. And Kian wanted to be a policeman!

Kian Loyd delos Santos was the sort of promising young Filipino who was supposed to be protected by the government from the drug menace. But because he was born on the other side of the tracks and lived where life is cheap under this administration, Caloocan Police Officers 1 Arnel Oares, Jeremiah Pereda and Jerwin Cruz apparently decided to add him to their day’s quota of drug kills last Wednesday. Oares, according to reports, was the one who fatally shot Kian.

Obviously, those Caloocan cops believed they could get away with murder. Just like the Ampatuans believed they could get away with shooting and then squashing 58 people into a shallow grave, most of them still in their cars, on that bucolic hill in Maguindanao in 2009. This is what happens when impunity takes hold.

Officials who defend the extrajudicial killing of Kian Loyd delos Santos will find themselves on the wrong side of history. Fiscal Cañete may be promoted to judge ASAP. But one day there will be a reckoning, and people will laugh when defenders of summary executions seek pity for their own children who will not be spared from public ostracism.

It looks like the opponents of drug killings have found their rallying point.

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Coincidentally, they even have the ideal day for launching a call for justice for Kian: Aug. 21, the day the Marcos dictatorship gave its opponents a martyr and unifying force. Or maybe the date will be a turnoff. (Those responsible believed they could get away with Ninoy Aquino’s murder – and they did; they continue to thrive – but this is another story.)

So at 6 this evening the “Himagsikan for Kian” will be held at the people power monument, with his relatives, neighbors, schoolmates and faculty from his alma mater, Our Lady of Lourdes College in Valenzuela, expected to attend.

Senators are set to conduct a probe. Perhaps the outrage will end the use of congressional inquiries for whitewashing extrajudicial killings. The National Bureau of Investigation is conducting its own probe, on orders of the justice secretary. Whether the NBI is capable of conducting a credible probe of EJKs is a big question.

Meanwhile, Oares, Pereda and Cruz have been sacked together with their precinct commander Amor Cerillo and the police chief of Caloocan, Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna.

Now what happens when President Duterte defends those sacked cops by invoking presumption of regularity in carrying out their duties? What if Duterte promises to give the cops absolute pardon pronto and even a promotion for a job well done?

Never mind the House of Representatives, the hopeless Malacañang rubberstamp. Will the Senate swallow that line?

Senators should find out the reason for last week’s unusual surge in drug killings by police in Bulacan and Manila. Were the cops promised a bonus or a promotion for each kill? Was a kill quota set for a particular period? Were the cops threatened with transfer to Sulu if they failed to kill a drug suspect?

Cops constitute the first line of defense in the war against impunity. All they have to do is say no to an unlawful order. But we all know this is easier said than done.

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The main driver of impunity in the bloody drug war is public support for the extraordinary methods employed.

In the face of outrage over Kian’s murder, the question is how long the outrage will last. Already there is a frantic effort to paint the boy as tainted and blame the media for turning him into a martyr. Politics is being used to blunt criticism of Kian’s death.

Cynics think the outrage will weaken after the next heinous crime attributed to a person high on drugs. Kian is not the first young victim of this war. The children were dismissed as “collateral damage” by the war commanders.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella described the violent death of any Filipino as “one death too many.” Did he clear this statement with his principal?

Amid the cynicism, perhaps Kian’s murder will put the nation closer to a tipping point. And the relief of the policemen involved should remind cops that their staunch defender would be around for only five more years. The statute of limitations for a murder indictment is 20 years.

Who knows, Kian Loyd delos Santos might just get justice.