Youth slams gov’t on Kian’s death
The gloomy weather yesterday went with the emotions and sentiments of young individuals from Cebu that were saddened in the controversial killing of a teenager in Caloocan City in yet another blunder in the government's anti-drug campaign.
Students from Cebubased youth and cause-oriented groups braved the morning rain yesterday as they staged a protest rally in downtown Cebu City to amplify their call seeking for justice of the victims of alleged extrajudicial killings, including the infamous death of 17-year-old Grade 11 student Kian Lloyd delos Santos in an anti-drug operation in Caloocon City last week.
They do not want any minor from Cebu to be taken down next on the death list of the government's drug war.
Joisa Cesista, chairperson of Anakbayan from the University of the PhilippinesCebu, said an hour of being drenched in the rain is nothing, since what is more important is to bring their message to the Cebuanos.
She said the killing of delos Santos, who is part of the youth and student sector, is only one of the thousands of deaths trapped into the extrajudicial procedure of the government's war on drugs.
She lamented that the government even has abandoned in providing the appropriate social services especially to the poor to prevent them from engaging in illegal activities.
Justine Raphael Luis C. Balane, Akbayan Youth-Cebu coordinator, highlighted the Duterte administration's failure to address rightfully its war against illegal drugs after lives of innocents were already taken away during operation.
“Apil ang mga bata nga yano sama ni Kian ang gipamatay na sa kapulisan human sa sugo ni Presidente Duterte nga ipadayon ang iyang palpak nga kampanya kontra droga,” Balane said.
Lawyer Vincent Isles, Head of The Silent Majority, said that the rally also aims to call for the essence of a real democracy.
“Kita nanghinaot nga magpadayon gihapon ang tinud-anay nga demokrasya ug nga kini muabot gayod og mahimo kita nga usa ka nasud. Nga ang matag usa kanato adunay katungod nga mabuhi, adunay katungod nga sundon ang ilahang mga damgo,” Isles said.
Isles said that they want the country to be drug-free, however, they wanted it to be conducted in a righteous way and hopes for the administration to come up with a campaign on drugs that is based on human rights.
Isles believed that drug user and dependents are also victims of their environment, as he calls for due process.
"We cannot end crime with more crime. DepEd and CHED must stop this or else blood would be on their hands.” Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago said, in a separate statement.
Elago said that the so-called war on drugs is quickly failing from strong pronouncements to end the drug war in three to six months, Duterte, scratching his head in frustration, frankly admits he cannot end this war, and pleads for another six years to do so.
"Insisting that drugs are the root of all evil, Duterte stubbornly refuses to confront the roots of poverty headon, and insists on using body counts as his metric of progress,” Elago further said.