Youth groups stage “die-in” protest in front of Camp Crame

September 7, 2017

Members of a youth group lay on their backs with their faces covered with paper in front of the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Thursday in protest over the deaths of teenagers in the government's anti-drug program

Father Robert Reyes and around 16 members of Youth Resist condemned the death of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman who was stabbed at least 30 times stab wounds and dumped in a creek in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija on Tuesday.

The protesters staged a “die-in” protest, showing how De Guzman was found.  Policemen guarding Camp Crame just watched as they held their activity. De Guzman was last seen on Aug. 18 with Carl Angelo Arnaiz, a 19-year-old former student of the University of the Philippines, who was killed in an alleged encounter with policemen in Caloocan City after reportedly robbing a taxi driver.

“Mr. President, why are you happy when there is bloodshed?” said Reyes as he recalled how Duterte praised the Bulacan police when 32 drug suspects were killed a recent anti-drug operation.

“Every week, the dead bodies are piling up and the victims are getting younger,” Akbayan Youth secretary general Shamah Bulangis said in a statement. “No matter how hard Duterte tries to hide his policy to kill, the blood of the young people killed are on his hand.”

Before De Guzman and Arnaiz, 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos was killed in an alleged encounter in Caloocan. But, an investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation said Delos Santos was executed.

“There is no process. They are killed and easily accused of resisting arrest,” he said.

After Reyes' group left, around 60 protesters from Save our Schools Network Mindanao protested the human rights violations committed against Lumad communities where 87 schools of the indigenous group in Mindanao have been affected since the imposition of martial law on May 23. DMS