DU30’S EJK: MANILA- Robredo: How many others were killed like Kian was?
Delos Santos was shot in the head and back during a police operation in August 2017.
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MANILA, Philippines — The conviction of three Caloocan police officers for the murder of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos is a victory for the people and should pave way for a wider investigation into deaths related to the government’s crackdown on drugs, Vice President Leni Robredo said.
Earlier Thursday, Caloocan Regional Trial Court Branch 125 Judge Rodolfo Azucena Jr. sentenced Police Officer 3 Arnel Oares, PO1 Jeremias Pereda and PO1 Jerwin Cruz to reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in prison with no possibility of parole for the murder of Delos Santos, who was killed in a “One Time, Big Time” operation in the city in August 2017.
The judge noted that the teenager, who was in a kineeling or sitting position, had begged for his life before he was shot in the head and back.
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RELATED: Cops convicted in Kian delos Santos murder
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“[W]e need to again ask the question that we have been asking for a long time: How many of the thousands killed in the ‘drug war’ were innocent like Kian?” Robredo said in Filipino on Thursday.
Although Judge Azucena acquitted the three in a related case of planting evidence on Delos Santos, the case sparked protests and condemnation as well as Senate hearings on the conduct of the “war on drugs.”
Police, who have said the the murder was an isolated case, have acknowledged the deaths of more than 4,900 “drug personalities” they were supposedly forced to kill because they “fought back” in anti-drug operations.
“It is not right for us to just accept that all those who were killed ‘fought back’. The Constitution and our laws needs to be followed in the implementation of the ‘war on drugs’ to protect the people against abuse,” Robredo also said.
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In a press briefing earlier Thursday, the Palace welcomed the guilty verdict against the three Caloocan cops.
“It shows that this country has a robust judicial system,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said. President Rodrigo Duterte, who regularly talks about killing criminals and corrupt government officials, has said that he will protect police and military personnel who are charged in the course of doing their jobs.
But Delos Santos’ murder, Duterte said in August 2017, was “not in the performance of duty.” He said then that it was “really bad.”
In a speech in Batangas, he said: “What I reminded again the military and the police is that it should be in the performance of your duty. You are not allowed to kill a person who is kneeling down begging for his life. That is murder.”
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