The Catholic Church has lamented the death of a young man due to leptospirosis a few days after searching for his missing father, wading through toxic floodwaters in Caloocan City.
In a social media post, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio viewed the demise of Dion Angelo de la Rosa, 20, as “a parable of our time,” saying it came as the result of one misfortune after another.
The boy’s family said he went out to look for his father, Jayson, who went missing last July amid heavy rains dumped by the southwest monsoon or habagat.
Angelo’s mother Jennylyn said they waited for hours on end for her son to come home with her husband, but they waited in vain.
Jayson was eventually traced three days later to the local police station, allegedly still in handcuffs.
“Nung makita siya sa substation, nakaposas. Siyempre natuwa ang anak ko at ang biyenan ko nakita si Jayson (When they saw Jayson) at the substation, in handcuffs, my son and my in-law were naturally glad,” Jennylyn recalled.
However, Angelo fell ill shortly after and died on July 27.
The grieving family slammed the police for not informing them of Jayson’s arrest, even questioning its legality.
It turned out Jayson was apprehended for allegedly engaging in kara y cruz, a form of neighborhood gambling using coins.
“Dinetain siya nang hindi pinaalam sa pamilya. Illegal ‘yung tinawag na ganun eh. Kasi kami yung naghanap sa kanya eh. Hindi gawain ng asawa ko na umalis at di magpaalam. Tatlong araw siyang nawala. Sa tatlong araw, di namin alam nasaan siya (He was detained without informing his kin. That’s illegal. May husband is not wont to going out without telling us first where he was going. He went missing for three days),” Jennylyn recounted..
Jayson was later released on bail, enabling him to attend his son’s wake.
The tragedy has drawn widespread criticisms over the shabby treatment of the poor, abuse of power under color of law, and systemic issues in flood control and law enforcement.
“How could this happen? How could a young man’s life be lost due to one misfortune after another?” Cardinal David wrote in his social media post.
“What choice did they have but to continue wading through the floods when the flood control gate remained broken despite a fresh allocation of P281 million for its repair?”
The Caloocan PNP confirmed that Jayson was arrested, but clarified that it happened on July 25, not July 22 as the family had claimed.
According to police, when Jayson’s wife went to the station on July 24 to file a missing person report, he was not yet in their custody.
“Iniiwasan po namin yung mga ganung insidente na planting of evidence. Yun po ang inaawayan namin kasi nga kung ano lang talaga madatnan namin sa lugar yun lang po,” said Capt. Romel Caburog, Caloocan police acting chief of IDMS.
“Sa totoo lang kami ay nalulungkot dun sa insidente na nalaman namin na kakahanap nung bata sa tatay niya is namatay. Di rin namin masisi yung kapulisan kasi nga kahit yung tatay di siya cooperative. Limitado sya magbigay ng detalye niya,” Caburog said.
