SENATOR Grace Poe called on Friday for an investigation into the spate of killings of minors and a speedy resolution of their cases.

Ms. Poe has already filed on Thursday Senate Resolution no. 498, which urges the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to conduct an inquiry into the death of minors in either police operations or vigilante-style killings on the heels of the government’s war on drugs.

The resolution also asks the committee to re-evaluate and enforce the rules of engagement of the Philippine National Police in arresting children in conflict with the law and to establish efficient avenues for giving assistance to families or victims.

In particular, Ms. Poe cited recent discovery of the body of 14 year old Reynaldo de Guzman, who was found in Gapan, Nueva Ecija with multiple stab wounds and face covered with packaging tape. She also noted the deaths of 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Kian Lloyd delos Santos.

The Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs is already scheduled to resume its investigation on the death of Mr. Delos Santos on Tuesday, September 12.

Since July 2016, 54 youths aged 18 years and below reportedly killed in either police operations or vigilante-style killings, the senator said in a statement.

Ms. Poe also said that in accordance to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice Act, minors should be given due process and should not be subjected to torture or any inhumane treatment.

“Given these increasingly gruesome deaths, we must ensure that the operational protocols of law enforcement agencies strictly adhere to the enshrined rights in our laws and international conventions,” Ms. Poe said. -30-Killings not a crisis, Palace says.

For its part, Malacañang said that the increasing number of teenage deaths should not be considered as a crisis.

“[O]f course it’s a deep concern. You know, if you consider it a crisis, it’s something like pestilence, you know. These are huge droughts. Those are crisis. But this is of growing concern,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella said.

He also added: “The Executive, through the Philippine National Police, will cooperate with the Senate investigation and any other investigations called for.”

Mr. Abella, for his part, said that “Rogue cops, if and when allegations are proven true, have no place in an institution like the Philippine National Police (PNP) and we need everyone’s support and cooperation as we continue to cleanse its ranks.”

On the 17th founding anniversary celebration of Digos City in Davao Del Sur on Friday, President Rodrigo R. Duterte said that his administration is not into extrajudicial killings (EJK), and he believed that the killings of teens are an attempt to sabotage the anti-drug war campaign.

He also pointed out that Carl Angelo Arnaiz is his relative.

“He’s my relative,” he said in Filipino. “Will I let him be killed by the police? Will I let my relative be killed by the police?” — Mario M. Banzon and Rosemarie A Zamora

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