Aguirre: Kian’s killing ‘blown out of proportion’

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Wednesday blamed the media for "blowing out of proportion" the shooting-death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos  saying the slay was just one of the thousands of killings related to the administration's war on drugs.

Aguirre made the pronouncement during the House briefing for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) P17.2-billion budget for 2018.

"Blown out of proportion in the media [ito] kaya akala mo napakalaki na. Isa lang siya sa thousands na pang-aabuso ng pulis kung talagang may-pang aabuso," he said.

The Justice secretary said that media's treatment of Kian's killing made it appear that it was "an exception to the rule."

"With thousands of killings relative to legitimate operation parang lumalabas itong kay Kian was the only exception to the rule eh," he said.

"Kasi napakarami ng nangyayaring killing na ganyan pero ang pang-aabuso ng pulis hindi napupruwebahan sa iba katulad ng dito kay Kian," he added.

Kian was one of those who were killed in a series of anti-drug operations in Metro Manila and Bulacan last week.

The teenager died after he was shot during an Oplan Galugad operation at Barangay 160.

While the police claimed that Kian resisted arrest and shot at them with a pistol as he was escaping, his father, Zaldy, said they have obtained a CCTV footage showing otherwise.

Zaldy claimed his son was blindfolded by the police and was being forced to identify drug pushers in their area. A witness has also come out claiming that the teenager had begged for his life.

Aguirre said it would be best to wait for the results of the investigations before jumping to conclusions about what really happened.

He had already ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe Kian's death. — MDM/KVD, GMA News