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Students want Aguirre to inhibit self from Kian slay probe, seek transfer of case to Ombudsman
A group of student leaders urged Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday to keep his hands off the case involving the death of teenage student Kian Loyd delos Santos in the hands of policemen who carried out anti-drug operations on August 16.
In a letter, the students cited Aguirre's statements over the past days that allegedly showed the Cabinet official's bias for the legitimacy of police operations that took Delos Santos' life.
Aguirre had said Delos Santos' death was an isolated case, overblown in the press, and that the witnesses initially under opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros' custody may have been brainwashed.
Student leaders want DOJ Sec. Aguirre to inhibit from Kian slay probe, seek transfer of case vs cops to Ombudsman. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/jJMAeIcfP4
— Virgil Lopez (@virgillopez) August 29, 2017
"By virtue of this institutional bias, the aforementioned case [Kian's death] will not be investigated with utmost impartiality and disinterestedness from the very institution which supports this campaign against illegal drugs. Thus, the undersigned [students] moves to inhibit the DOJ from conducting the preliminary investigation and to transfer the venue thereof to the Office of the Ombudsman," stated the letter which was received by the DOJ docket section.
Citing the 1987 Constitution and Section 15 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989, the students said the Ombudsman has the authority being the "guardian against abuses of public officers" to conduct the preliminary investigation on the murder and torture complaints filed against the policemen linked to Delos Santos' death.
The letter was signed by Karla Yu, convenor of the Millenials Against Dictators; Amber Quian, national secretary general of the University of the Philippines Bukluran System; and Moira Macainag, director for social sciences of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila UNESCO Club.
Resignation
Supporting the students' call was activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes, who went to the extent of asking for Aguirre's resignation.
"He's (Aguirre) making a mockery of the justice system," Reyes told reporters.
Responding to the resignation call, Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said Aguirre "serves at the pleasure of the President."
"While the SOJ [Secretary of Justice] respects the view of everyone to express themselves freely, he will stay for as long as he enjoys the trust and confidence of the President," Balmes said.
Aguirre earlier parried criticism that he was taking sides in the case, saying he was only biased for "truth and of the rule of law."
He said any "act of murder perpetrated against any Filipino deserves condemnation" and that he "will work to bring the ones responsible for such acts to get the full measure of our penal laws."
"As a father and a parent myself, I condemn the killing of Kian Delos Santos. I condemn the killing in the same way that I condemn the brutal killings, the rape and the dehumanization of infants and children, of grandmothers and grandfathers, of mothers and fathers, of sons and daughters by drug addicts," he said.
Aguirre attributed the allegations against him to some "apparently uninformed or ill-motivated persons" he did not identify.
He also assured that he would not meddle in the case which is pending before the National Prosecution Service.
"I will not even touch that case. Even on appeal, I will not handle the case. The cases on appeal are assigned to my five undersecretaries. They will not be brought to me for any action before filing in court, or their dismissal," he said.
Kian's parents in Malacañang
Aguirre was among those present in the meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Delos Santos' parents, Saldy and Lorenza, in Malacañang on Monday.
Aguirre also reiterated his offer for Delos Santos' family and their witnesses to be placed under the Witness Protection Program. — RSJ, GMA News
