Caloocan cops, 3 witnesses face Senate probe on Kian’s slay

The Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Thursday begins its probe on the death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos amid public outrage against the drug-related killing.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the panel, earlier said his committee will summon Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, and representatives from the National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, and PNP Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS), as well as the father of Kian.

Lacson, former chief of the PNP, has earlier expressed apprehension on how the government’s drug war is being carried out by policemen.

“Bara-bara na lang ba dahil suportado naman tayo ng pinakamataas na pinuno?” he said, referring to President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Senate probe comes days after majority bloc senators signed a resolution condemning Kian's death and other "abuses by the police" in carrying out the war on drugs.

The probe, according to the resolution, seeks to “determine the accountability of the PNP in the conduct of the campaign against illegal drugs that may have resulted in unnecessary and unjustified deaths and/or killings.”

Also expected to attend the probe are Caloocan policemen allegedly involved in Kian’s death and three witnesses under the custody of Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Policemen involved in the anti-drugs operation that led to Kian’s death have already been placed under preventive suspension and restrictive custody amid the investigation conducted by the PNP-IAS.

Caloocan City’s police chief Chito Bersoluna, meanwhile, was also ordered suspended.

The policemen claimed Delos Santos fired at authorities as he was trying to escape during an Oplan Galugad operation in Barangay 160, Caloocan City.

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 while witnesses claimed the police's version of the events was not true.

One of the witnesses said Delos Santos, a Grade 12 student, begged for his life before being shot to death.

A CCTV footage also showed the policemen dragging Delos Santos to the place where he was killed, contrary to police claims that he resisted arrest and took off.

Two of three police officers allegedly involved in the incident admitted to investigators that it was Kian they were dragging along the alley and not an informant.

The victim also tested negative for gunpowder nitrates. Results of the autopsy conducted by the Public Attorney’s Office also showed Delos Santos sustained three fatal gunshot wounds, and that the trajectory suggests that he was shot while lying face down. — BAP, GMA News