WE LAUD the decision of the Supreme Court finding three police officers guilty of the murder of Kian delos Santos, 17, in a supposed anti-drug operation in Caloocan City more than eight years ago.
The SC Second Divison’s Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez wrote the decision upholding the lower court convictions of Arnel Oares (Oares), Jeremias Pereda (Pereda), and Jerwin Cruz (Cruz), sentencing the three to reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in prison. They were also ordered to pay delos Santos’ family P275,000 in damages.
Delos Santos’ case is particularly compelling because of one detail known to the public – the boy begging to be allowed to go home, one August evening in 2017, because he still had an exam at school the following day.
But the cops, who said they had found drugs in the boy’s possession, instead led him to a dark area near a river, where they shot him multiple times.
The courts said all the elements of murder as laid down in Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code were present; there was also the qualifying circumstance of treachery. One of the police officers argued he was merely performing duties, but the court said killing a minor could not be considered standard in the operation, and that the performance of duties does not include murder.
The former president who waged the so-called war on drugs is now incarcerated for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Despite his supporters’ protestations, the court ruled that Rodrigo Duterte is fit to stand trial for his deeds. His deputies and implementers are now presumably quaking in their boots as they await their own arrest orders.
The Supreme Court’s ruling brings some consolation. Killing another human being is never right, especially when it concerns a defenseless minor like delos Santos, and when it is disguised as state policy to protect the people.
Still, the decision does not erase the tragedy of Kian’s loss, or that of the many other thousands who perished during those dark days. The verdict does not bring Kian back; all that remain for him are his unrealized dreams. May the families of the other victims of extra-judicial killings find their own justice, and their own peace.
And may those performing their jobs never fail to exercise their own moral judgment in carrying out orders from their superiors. There will always, always be a reckoning of one’s deeds.
