Drug war victim’s mother writes letters to slain son

MANILA, Philippines — The mother of 23-year-old Djastin Lopez, killed in an anti-drug operation in Manila in 2017, had been writing letters to her son about her ordeal in seeking justice for his death.

In an interview with The STAR yesterday, Normita Lopez said she had written in her notebook at least 10 letters to her son.

She would be writing another letter, this time bearing good news that Ombudsman Samuel Martires approved the filing of a murder case and ordering the dismissal from service of Staff Sgt. Gerry Geñalope, who admitted to killing her son during a police operation.

“I just want them to be jailed. Even if I have to visit them every day at the precinct just to check if they are still detained, I will do it,” said Lopez, who was also among the drug war victims who sued President Duterte with crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

A source at the Manila Police District said Geñalope “has not been seen at the headquarters for a while. We do not have any idea if he was assigned elsewhere, but as far as we know he is not assigned to the MPD Station 7 anymore.”

Lopez said she would visit her son’s tomb and personally tell him personally about the good news.

As to her letters for her son, Lopez said she lent her notebook of love letters to the theater group Sining Kadamay, which plans to use it for a play based on her ordeal as a mother of an extrajudicial killing victim.

She said she had received the good news hours before she was set to perform for a drug war play presented by Sikad. She fainted on stage in a mixture of exhaustion and exuberation. 

Lopez wrote a poem for her son, which she shared with The STAR. A portion of her poem reads: “Ang hinihiling ko lang sa iyo, Panginoon Diyos, na sana kapag dumating na ang takdang oras, na ako naman ang lilisan sa mundong ito, sana ay iyong ipahintulot na muli kaming magkita ng aking pinamamahal na anak.”

“At bago pa man lang pumikit ang aking mga mata, sana mabigyan na ng hustisya ang iyong pagkamatay aking anak.” – With Rey Galupo