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Poe, Drilon lecture Aguirre on public outrage over Kian’s death


Senators Franklin Drilon and Grace Poe on Thursday lectured Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on the public outcry over the death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos, after the Cabinet official compared it to the lack of outrage on the bloody Bulacan massacre last June.

During the Senate public order committee probe on Delos Santos’ death, Drilon explained to Aguirre that there was a lot of public outcry over the boy's killing because it was the police who shot him dead.

“It is the state agents, police yung pumatay, according to the report. That is the basic difference when you use the forces of the government that resulted in the death of a citizen,” Drilon, a former Justice secretary, said.

“In Bulacan, it is the duty of the police officer to arrest the culprit, who allegedly is a drug addict. In the particular case of Kian, it is the state agents themselves who took the life of a 17-year-old boy and I hope you see the difference there,” he said.

During the hearing, Aguirre questioned the lack of outrage from human rights groups and other sectors over the Bulacan massacre.

“Para bang hindi pantay, ano ang diperensya ng mga pinatay na bata ng adik sa mga pinatay na bata ng mga pulis?” Aguirre said.

Poe, for her part, said it is the duty of the police to protect citizens.

“Ang talagang responsibilidad ng pulis ay magprotekta kaya pag nakita natin na salungat ang nangyayari, maaring magkaron tayo ng pagdududa sa sistema,” Poe told Aguirre.

Autopsy reports by the police and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) both indicate that Kian, a Grade 12 student, was shot kneeling face down.

Cops claimed Delos Santos fired at authorities as he was trying to escape during an Oplan Galugad operation in Barangay 160.

Reportedly recovered from Delos Santos were a .45 pistol and two sachets of suspected shabu with a street value of about P20,000.

His relatives, however, said the items did not belong to the teenager and witnesses claimed the police's version of the events was contrived.

A CCTV camera footage also showed the policemen dragging Delos Santos to the place where he was killed. Caloocan cops, however, claimed that it was not Kian in the video, but rather, a police asset. — RSJ/KVD, GMA News

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