SO, THE young Grade 11 student, Kian Loyd de los Santos, 17, of Sta. Quiteria, Caloocan City, was laid to rest, rendering him just a number in the compilation of statistics on mortality.
He was just another victim of the war on drugs, a reinvigorated campaign of President Duterte and which results to animated killings, if not daily, but regularly, by elements of the PNP, a group pampered by the President with sweet deals and rewards. No wonder, members of this group sworn to serve and protect the country's citizens are falsely emboldened by the chief executive's promises to back them up, no matter what, so long as the apprehended suspects resist and be shot point blank. The policemen are really emboldened, nay, encouraged to kill people with impunity and are ready with the excuse that: nanlaban, kaya pinatay. Such hogwash! Such shame for a flimsy excuse for murdering helpless civilians!
As Philippine Star columnist and now our envoy to the United States, Babe Romualdez writes: The recent killing of this young man Kian de los Santos sparked public outrage, prompting the Senate to conduct a hearing and investigate what happened.
The honorable senators found a convenient excuse to ride on massive publicity, in print and social media, surrounding the death of an ertswhile unknown student, who, after his death at the hands of 3 Caloocan police officers, suddenly became a celebrity!
But what about the other young victims who were killed and even tortured and therefore suffered the worse fate than Kian? Were they conveniently forgotten and their deaths dismissed just as collateral damage? Were the perpetrators of the crime ever held to admit them and promptly prosecuted?
The pomp and circumstance attending the death of Kian was absent in the case of the slain innocent civilians. Is there an end to the merciless and brutal killings?
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Atty. Ignacio P. Bunye, former mayor of Muntinlupa City and a columnist of Manila Bulletin weighed in: Public outrage over the injustice (for killing Kian Loyd de los Santos) even among the supporters of the drug war- was swift and rightly so. Kian was executed. It was murder.
True, there were investigations initiated by several institutions, one of which is the National Bureau of Investigation, but would anything positive and beneficial come out of these investigations? If I know the batting average of the NBI in concluding and solving crime incidents, I would rejoice and so would others with a conscience.
But, sadly, inefficiency gets in the way and the results are sorry.
