By Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral and
Kristine Joy V. Patag Reporters

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has ordered its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to investigate the Aug. 17 killing of a 17-year-old high-school student in the hands of cops, which has sparked an outcry over President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s bloody drug war.

This is apart from a probe by the National Bureau of Investigation, as ordered by the Department of Justice, and a Senate inquiry scheduled on Thursday.

According to Caloocan City cops who seized the teenager in a fresh wave of anti-drug operations last week, Mr. Delos Santos resisted arrest, prompting them to fire back at him. Reportedly recovered from Mr. Delos Santos were a .45 pistol and two sachets of suspected shabu (methamphetamine).

But this version has come under fire after a CCTV footage aired by local television networks showed Mr. Delos Santos being dragged by two policemen to a place where his dead body was later found. Eyewitness accounts also claimed that police officers forced Mr. Delos Santos to fight back.

In a televised press conference on Monday, PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Dionardo B. Carlos said the CIDG has been directed by PNP Director-General Ronald M. dela Rosa to lead the investigation on Mr. Delos Santos’s death.

To ensure “utmost impartiality” in CIDG’s inquiry, Mr. Carlos said Mr. Dela Rosa has placed Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna under administrative relief effective yesterday, Aug. 21.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has also been ordered to put all Caloocan cops being probed under restrictive custody, the PNP spokesman added.

“Although Senior Superintendent Bersaluna is not directly the subject of investigation, the administrative relief precludes possibility of his influence over the investigation on the incident that allegedly involved four personnel under his command,” Mr. Carlos explained.

“Subsequently, these personnel shall be placed under restrictive custody of CIDG upon the filing of charges against them,” he added.

Mr. Dela Rosa himself has drawn flak for an interview with ABS-CBN in which he cited information that the slain teenager acted as drug courier for his father and other relatives.

Saldy delos Santos, Kian’s father, said in response: “P’wede kaming magpa-drug test. Sana…unahin nila ang pulis nila, baka ‘yon ang adik kasi kahit bata ang isip kaya nilang patayin eh.” (We can all have a drug test. I wish they start with their cops. Maybe they’re the addicts because even children they can kill.)

Thousands of people have been killed in the course of the Duterte administration’s drug war, with human rights watchdogs claiming most of the fatalities are extrajudicial killings committed by cops and unknown assailants.

But the government has vehemently denied this and insisted that police are only killing in self-defense while gangsters are silencing potential witnesses.

Also on Monday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said government protection may be extended to Mr. Delos Santos’s family.

“If they apply, we will consider putting them under the Witness Protection Program (WPP),” Mr. Aguirre said in a text message to reporters.

Mr. Delos Santos, a 17-year old Grade 11 student, was killed by police operatives in what has turned out to be the bloodiest week in President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.

His killing sparked widespread condemnation from all sectors including religious leaders, and has even prompted known supporters of Mr. Duterte in Congress to express their outrage. Authorities claimed the Grade 11 student fired back at them, prompting them to retaliate.

But a recorded closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed the student being dragged by cops, and witnesses recounted him pleading for his life and even mentioning at the point of death a scheduled class exam he had to take the next day.

Besides his father, Saldy, Mr. Delos Santos is survived by his mother Lorenza and three siblings.

Mr. Aguirre said witnesses have come forward and given statements that Mr. Delos Santos did not fire at the authorities, contradicting the version of police respondents.

But these witnesses were also earlier offered custody by Akbayan Senator Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel who visited Mr. Delos Santos’s wake last Saturday.

In a radio interview the next day, she said her office is already in custody of some of the witnesses in the case. Ms. Hontiveros added: “The protection provided to the family will be extended to the key witnesses who will help in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the extrajudicial killing of Kian Loyd delos Santos.”

The senator’s staff was sought for comment but it cannot be confirmed, as of this reporting, who are the witnesses on her watch. — with a report by interaksyon.com

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