Kian delos Santos kin on Duterte arrest: Sana lahat may due process

Metro Manila, Philippines - For the families of drug war victims, legal remedies sought by former President Rodrigo Duterte to avoid arrest were a painful reminder of what they claimed as due process denied to their slain loved ones.

Randy delos Santos, the uncle of Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old student shot dead during a police operation in Caloocan City in August 2017, said Duterte was fortunate to have his rights protected during his arrest — a privilege drug war victims never had.

“Swerte nga eh nabibigyan pa ng pagkakataon ang mga taong ito na mailaban ang kanilang sarili, ang pamahalaan kahapon napaka-luwag ng karapatan sa kanya, binasahan siya ng kanyang karapatan," said Randy in an interview with NewsWatch Plus.

[Translation: He’s lucky that people like him are still given the opportunity to defend themselves. The government was very lenient in granting him his rights; they even read him his rights.]

"Lahat ng tamang proseso ipinagkaloob sa kanya lalo na sa kanyang kalusugan,"he added.

[Translation: All the proper processes observed, especially concerning his health.]

But Randy lamented the thousands of drug war victims were left to themselves.

“Balikan nila yung kwento kasi narinig na naman nila yung mga kwento ng mga pamilyang ito na pinatay, inabuso, pinasok ang bahay, binaril ang mga bungo ng mga tatay,” he added.

[Translation: They should revisit the stories because they’ve heard the stories of families who were killed, abused, had their homes broken into, and their fathers shot in the head.]

Randy said Kian didn't get the chance to defend himself or avail of legal process.

Bakit yung aking pamangkin, bitbit na ng mga pulis ‘di ba? Ano yung argumento? Nakita sa video. Bakit hindi sinampahan ng kaso yung bata, so, walang proseso," he added

[Translation: Why was my nephew already carried by the police? What’s the argument? It was seen in the video. Why wasn’t the child charged? There was no process.]

Kian wanted to be a policeman

Randy recalled that Kian dreamt of becoming a policeman.

“Dati nga binibiro ko kung hindi mo kaya mag-criminology, mag-cosmetology ka na lang. Pero yun, gusto niyang mag-pulis. Sabi ko, pulis din ang kumitil sa kanyang buhay,” he said.

[Translation: I used to joke with him that if you can't handle criminology, you should take cosmetology. But no, he wanted to be a policeman. I told him, it was the police who took his life.]

According to a Human Rights Watch report, Kian had pleaded with assailants – one of whom held him by the neck – to stop hurting him because he had a school exam the next day.

They ignored his pleas and shot him three times while on his knees.

The Philippine National Police claimed Kian was killed in a firefight or “nanlaban,” as was often the case in drug war shootings.

In 2018, three police officers were found guilty of murder for killing Kian, the first of such convictions since Duterte's war on drugs.