Leaders of the national and Metro Manila police, on the defensive following the controversial killing of a teenager in a Caloocan drug raid last week, on Monday sought to bolster their theory that the slain youngster Kian Delos Santos and his family were in fact local drug runners.
Even as Metro Manila Police Chief Dir. Oscar Albayalde acknowledged that the “most important” question is whether or not Kian, a Grade 11 student, was summarily killed, PNP officials took turns making out the boy, his father, and his uncle, as players in their neighborhood’s drug network.
Outrage has mounted since Kian’s death on Wednesday, particularly after leaked CCTV footage put into question initial police accounts about his fatal shooting. Police officers said the youngster had a gun, packets of shabu, and had violently resisted arrest, and therefore supposedly triggered a gunfight that resulted in his death. Moments before he was shot, however, closed circuit cameras captured police leading a young man – supposedly Kian – by both arms to the spot where the teener was ultimately found shot to death.
Speaking with the media at Camp Crame, Albayalde said police should investigate the conduct of his arrest and the manner of his killing above all questions, including whether or not Kian was in fact involved in any way with drugs.
Still, much of their statements in a press conference on Monday focused on allegations about Kian’s character and his alleged involvement in drugs. PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa himself earlier in the day said the boy was a drug courier for his own father and uncle – a charge that the elder Delos Santos quickly denied.
Northern Police Chief Supt. Roberto Fajardo said they have witnesses and evidence to prove “that (Kian) is a runner,” then added: “Ngayong patay na siya, mabait na siya… Na-politicize na.” (Now that he is dead, he’s good… It’s all been politicized.)
Fajardo said that according to Kian’s neighbors, “siya ay adik, pusher. Unfortunately napulitika na. Ngayon lumalabas, mabait na siya…Sana tanggalin natin ang emotions.“
(He’s an addict, a pusher. Unfortunately, it’s all been politicized. Now it’s made to appear that he’s suddenly this good kid…It would be better to take all emotion out of it.)
“Let’s look at the facts,” the northern police chief said.
Albayalde said Kian took orders from a certain “Neneng”. “Alam ‘yun ng father at uncle niya.” (His father and uncle know that.)
