Drug war: They shoot children, don’t they? (1)
One hundred twenty-two children – aged 1 to 17 – were killed in the first half alone of Rodrigo Duterte’s six-year bloody drug war.
“Collateral damage,” he claims, as if stray bullets are to blame. But in many cases the minors directly were targeted to eliminate witnesses in other killings or for supposedly fighting back, as proxies of real targets and mistaken identity.
Only one of the 122 killings resulted in conviction, and only because the killer cops were caught on video. Families of the other victims and witnesses were silenced by threats and fear of retaliation.
Only now are the 122 child killings being brought to the fore by separate probes in the House of Reps and Senate. But reports were compiled as far back as June 2020 by World Organization Against Torture and Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center.
WOAT and CLRDC storified six of the reports in “How could they do this to my child? Extrajudicial killings of children during the war on drugs in the Philippines.” Excerpts of the first three:
• Jaime, 17. Known in his Manila neighborhood as caring. Never had any problem with the law, nor included in any drug list.
On the night of July 29, 2018 a woman hired Jaime’s tricyclist friend to take her to a mall. Jaime and another friend joined as back riders. A block from the mall, the woman asked to be let off to get cash for the fare.
While waiting, Jaime and friends snacked at a fast-food diner. A server said they were jovial.
The woman returned with 12 policemen and shouted that the trio had tried to rob her. The server said the cops beat up the three, and dragged them to the far side of Garcia Street out of his sight. Gunshots rang out.
The cops took the bodies to the funeral home. The woman could not be located, Jaime’s kin said later.
The medical report stated that Jaime sustained torture marks and six gunshot wounds.
The two companions were said to be of majority age. Jaime’s age was stated as 25-35. They supposedly were robbers, with drugs found in their possession.
Claiming it was a legit operation, the police closed the case. Jaime’s kin did not press charges for fear of reprisal.
• Sonny, 7. April 7, 2019, 3:30 a.m. – Two gun bursts awakened the urban-poor community in Caloocan. Peering out the window, a neighbor saw two sprawled bodies of a man and a boy with blood oozing out from the stomach. Barangay authorities arrived.
Sonny’s mom said the boy had gone out to wait for relatives with whom he was to go swimming at 7 a.m. He couldn’t sleep from excitement.
During the interview with documenters, she kept repeating, “How could they do this to my child?”
The family didn’t see the killer. But a CCTV at the house across the alley caught the identity – a member of the barangay task force.
Days later the kin of the other fatality filed charges against the barangay officer. It was dismissed on technicality: complainants did not attend trial. It turned out that subpoenas were received only after the hearing dates.
Sonny’s mom also went to court. CCTV footage showed that Sonny was sitting in front of his house while a man slept on the pavement. The gunman appeared and shot the sleeper. Witnessing it, Sonny called the attention of the killer, who then shot him too.
Barangay authorities said the slain man was a druggie. They couldn’t say why Sonny too was slain.
The killer was jailed but quickly released. No witnesses came forward because the gunman roams around their slum.
• Alberto, 17. At midmorning of Feb. 10, 2017 two barangay officers took Alberto from the house. They told his dad to stay behind as they were only to question Alberto for theft and drug use, then let him go.
Half an hour later the dad went to fetch Alberto. En route he heard a gunshot. At the barangay hall he asked for Alberto and was told by the officers that the boy had left.
Walking home the dad was approached by two youngsters who said they saw Alberto lying in the grass a few meters from the barangay hall. He ran there and saw his son’s lifeless body, with a gunshot wound in the head.
Shouting for help, he was approached by a barangay patrol. He said Alberto’s body, arms and feet showed torture marks, like he was mauled before being shot.
The youngsters didn’t see who slew Alberto. Although believing that the two barangay officers did it, the dad was too scared to file a case.
A month prior, the dad said Alberto had been questioned at the barangay hall for theft. In front of the dad, an official warned the boy, “Next time you’re arrested, I will shoot you.”
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