THE family of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, who was shot dead by Caloocan police on Aug. 16, on Monday rejected the claim of Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa that the Grade 11 student delivered drugs to his father and uncle.
Kian’s father, Saldy delos Santos, said he and his family were willing to take a drug test to prove they were not users, and asked Dela Rosa for a fair investigation.
Dela Rosa on Sunday presented a supposed drug pusher on Sunday who claimed to have had transactions with Kian.
“Please be fair,” Saldy said, addressing the police chief in Filipino on radio dzMM. “Have mercy on the child because we know nothing [about drugs]. We are the victims here. We are the ones you should be helping.”
Saldy added that Kian could not have been a drug courier because he followed a tight schedule in school and was helping mind the family store.
Neighbors would not have sympathized with their family if they were involved in illegal activities, he added.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he continued in Filipino. “We would not be selling smoked fish if we’re selling drugs. If we did that, nobody would have sympathized with us. Nobody would have gone to my sons’s wake.”
In another interview, Saldy urged Dela Rosa to interview his neighbors, who could attest to his character.
“My neighbors will prove what kind of child he was,” he said in Filipino. “My son was good. We were working for a decent living. He did not have a gang. He didn’t even know how to curse.”
“His mother worked abroad so that Kian could go to school, not so that he could be a drug courier,” he added.
Kian’s mother Lorenzana, who flew home from the Middle East, said the police who killed her son must be held accountable.
“Please surrender,” she said, addressing the policemen in Filipino. “Pay for your crime. You killed my defenseless son,” she said.
