Let the Department of Justice (DOJ) conduct its own investigation into the killing of Kian delos Santos, Senator Panfilo Lacson said this yesterday amid calls of his fellow lawmakers for Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to inhibit from the case.
Opposition Senators Franklin Drilon and Risa Hontiveros earlier called on Aguirre to keep his hands off the case of Delos Santos following a “one-sided” remark he made during the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Thursday.
Lacson said he understood the points of his fellow senators but it would be more reasonable to let the DOJ proceed with its own investigation.
“Pag pinag-inhibit si Secretary Aguirre, baka sa kanyang tanggapan din umabot ‘yung kaso pagka mayroong nag-file ng petition for review (When Secretary Aguirre inhibits himself, the case might end up on his office when someone files a petition for review),” Lacson said in an interview over DWIZ.
Lacson, however, hoped that Delos Santos’ case will not end up like that of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, in which the cases filed against policemen involved were watered down or downgraded from murder to homicide.
“Yung kay Kian Loyd, wag naman sanang maulit yung experience ni (Supt. Marvin) Marcos dahil talagang ito, kitang kita. May CCTV, may mga testimonies, lahat (In the case of Kian Loyd, I hope it will not be repeated, our experience with Supt. Marvin Marcos, because it was clear — there were CCTV footage, testimonies, everything),” he explained.
In a joint committee report issued on March 12, the Senate committees on justice and human rights and public order and dangerous drugs recommended the filing of murder charges against Marcos, former police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 chief, and 18 others.
However, the DOJ downgraded this to a lesser and bailable offense of homicide, due to the “absence of evident premeditation.”
Lacson said Delos Santos was apparently murdered, based on the autopsy reports and findings of forensic experts presented during the Senate hearing on the boy’s death.
However, he said it was not for the committee to conclude on such result because the prosecutors have yet to establish probable cause for the case to prosper.
Delos Santos was finally laid to rest yesterday more than a week after he was killed in the hands of Caloocan City policemen conducting an anti-illegal drug operation.
Hundreds of Delos Santos’ family members, friends, and supporters marched for almost three hours from the boy’s neighborhood in Sta. Quiteria, Caloocan City to the La Loma Catholic Cemetery in Manila.
Priests, family members, and friends carrying Delos Santos’ coffin inched through the labyrinth of tombs inside the La Loma cemetery as mourners chanted for justice for the boy’s death and end to drug-related killings.
The funeral march earlier stopped in front of the Caloocan City Police Community Precinct 7, the station where the policemen involved in the police operation were assigned.
Delos Santos’ father, Saldy, wished the family of the policemen who killed his son would not suffer the same fate because it was “too painful” to lose a child. /INQUIRER.NET
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