Robredo offers legal assistance to family of slain teenager in anti-drug operation

August 20, 2017

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday visited the wake of a 17- year old boy killed in a police drug operation in Caloocan City recently.

Robredo, with the help of a group of lawyers, has offered legal assistance to the family of slain student, Kian Loyd delos Santos, to pursue the case against the police operatives involved in the killing.

"We have Atty. (Jose Manuel) Diokno  of FLAG (Free Legal Assistance Group), and we are linking them to the office. Actually, according to his parents, they've already talked to a FLAG lawyer. They are really decided to file a case," she said in her weekly radio program "Biserbisyong Leni."

The Vice President questioned the way the police handled their operation.

"We agreed that there is a huge problem in illegal drugs, but in the procedure, there could be a better option where human rights would not be at stake," she said.

According to the vice president, she went straight to Delos Santos' wake after returning from Naga City.

"We arrived early morning, around 4 am, I was accompanied by a lawyer. We visited the family. We checked on what they need," she said.

Delos Santos' wake was at Libis Baesa, Barangay 160, Caloocan.

Robredo was saddened upon knowing how good the boy was as she also has a 17-year old daughter.

She wondered why police officers chose to arrest Delos Santos in a dark place instead of bringing him to a barangay hall, which was near in the area.

She challenged the leadership of the Philippine National Police to prove that it is not tolerating such kind of abuses.

Meanwhile, as the National Bureau of Investigation has started its own investigation on the case, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon urged Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to relieve Darwin Canete from Caloocan City Prosecutor's Office after his remarks against Delos Santos.

“The case is seriously prejudiced by Canete. His frame of mind and line of reasoning are very disturbing. We must never tolerate such behavior of a fiscal that imperils the administration of justice in the country,” Drilon said.

Drilon said Aguirre “should immediately remove Mr. Canete from the case for manifest partiality and hostility towards the victim.”

Canete, a prosecutor of Caloocan City and supporter of President Rodrido Duterte, reportedly said that Delos Santos was not completely innocent of any involvement in illegal drugs.

“The risk of prejudice is too great in the case of Canete and this behooves the secretary of justice to intervene, if he is intent on fulfilling his job of administering justice in the country,” Drilon stressed.

Delos Santos was killed during an Oplan Galugad operation led by PNP-Police Community Precinct 7.

With the incident, Caloocan Police chief Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna and three other policemen were relieved from their posts.

"This action we have taken is an administrative relief to give way to a fair investigation in Caloocan City," National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Oscar Albayalde said in a radio interview. Ella Dionisio/DMS