Anti-graft group chief hails conviction of teen’s killers

The chairman of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday lauded the “true justice” handed to Kian Loyd de los Santos, a teenager who was violently killed last year under the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.In a statement, Dante Jimenez lauded the legal team of the Department of Justice, as well as the truthfulness of the court, to give the 17-year-old de los Santos “true justice.”Jimenez, who also founded the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), welcomed, too, the quick resolution of the case.The murder trial ran for only six months.“One of the fastest judicial decisions ever in VACC history and, perhaps in the Philippines. Long live justice!” Jimenez said.The three policemen who were suspects in the case were convicted on murder charges and sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or 20 to 40 years of imprisonment, by Judge Rodolfo Azucena Jr. of Branch 125 of the Caloocan Regional Trial Court on Thursday.They are Police Officers Jerwin Cruz, Arnel Oares and Jeremias Pereda.The court ordered the policemen to pay De los Santos’ family P345,000 in civil, moral, actual and exemplary damages.The teenager’s murder was viewed by many as the symbol of human rights abuses under the Duterte administration’s drug crackdown.In August 2017, de los Santos’ body was found with two gunshot wounds to the head after a drug operation by the Caloocan City police.Police claimed that they fired at de los Santos because the 17-year-old had pulled out a gun.Based on security footage and witness testimonies, however, unidentified men dragged the boy to where his body was later found.Cruz, Oares and Pereda were sacked from their posts after being tagged in the killing, which drew widespread outrage.De los Santos’ death, along with those of 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman, prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to pull out the Philippine National Police (PNP) as the lead agency in the drug war.The PNP was reinstated in the anti-drug operations on January 29 but only as a support for the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.Duterte had promised in 2016 to end the drug menace in three to six months, or else he would resign if he failed. This led to a bloody “Oplan Tokhang,” a programme that earned the ire of human rights advocates both locally and internationally. When his three to six months was up, Duterte first asked for a one-year extension and then the rest of his term to complete his task.