Lawmaker: Caloocan City now perceived as a 'killing field'

A lawmaker on Wednesday said Caloocan City is already being perceived as a "killing field" due to the recent killings of teenagers and drug suspects, including Kian Loyd delos Santos and Carl Angelo Arnaiz.

"Ang efforts ng local government na ayusin ang ekonomiya ng lungsod ay nababalewala dahil nagkakaroon na ng image na magulo at killing fields ang Caloocan," Caloocan City 2nd District Representative Edgar Erice told radio dzBB in an interview.

Erice said that aside from the cases of Delos Santos and Arnaiz, who were both killed by Caloocan City policemen, there have also been numerous killings in the city involving unidentified group of men.

During the interview, the congressman cited the killing of 17-year-old Albert Samson while he was sleeping inside his home in Kabulusan 2, Barangay 20 in September 2016.

"Natutulog. May 15 nakamotor na pumasok sa iskinita nila, pagpasok [sa bahay] pinagbabaril siya, patay," Erice said.

He said Samson was an orphan and supported his own education by selling flowers at the church in the city.

He added that the teenager was a first year criminology student at the University of Caloocan City (UCP). "Magandang lalaki kaya nga laging Mr. UCP."

Erice said that Samson's killing remains unsolved.

He said that based on his own investigations, Samson's killing was a case of mistaken identity. He said he was told that the unidentified gunmen entered the wrong door.

He cited another case of killing in the city that involved 17 gunmen.

"May video sa isang pinatay sa isang slum area. Seventeen naman ang pumasok, nakamaskara. Pinatay sa harap ng asawa at anak, pinakain ng bala, nang lumabas ay kasalubong na ang SOCO (crime scene investigators) eh," he said.

He added: "Nakakaalarma na. Marami pang ibang kaso na talagang nakakaalarma."

The lawmaker suspects that the masked men carrying out killings in the city could also be policemen.

"Tingin ko mga nakamaskara ay mga pulis eh," Erice said.

Policemen involved in the killing of Delos Santos and Arnaiz claimed that the teenagers were killed in gunfights.

The policemen involved in Delos Santos' case claimed the teenager was a drug dealer while Arnaiz was suspected of robbing a taxi driver.

In a privilege speech on Tuesday, the Liberal Party congressman proposed the creation of a commission that will review the government's war on drugs.

"My proposal, Mr. Speaker, is for the President to create a commission from both the administration and opposition, from the academe, from the judiciary and health experts and social scientists and come up with [an] evaluation of the current drug war, study the drug problem on a very comprehensive manner and come up with a no-nonsense drug program that will address the problem," he said. —ALG, GMA News