Ermita folk: No operation happened

Residents of Bato, Ermita, Cebu City are conducting a signature campaign asking for justice for four-year-old Skyler Abatayo who was hit by a stray bullet during of what the police claimed to be an anti-drug operation.

They plan to send it to Commission on Human Rights Head Jose Luis Martin Gascon as they believed that there are lapses the authorities committed during the incident.

The residents who signed the document claimed that there was no police operation that took place and that they did not even notice any commotion when the incident happened.

They even thought that the burst was caused by an explosion of a transformer.

Josefina Baguio, a resident who signed the document, said they have not noticed any commotion at all.

They just later heard that the child's mother went crying for help.

The victim's father, Mark, who celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday, said it was a very bitter birthday gift and that all his plans for his child turned into ashes when he learned of his son's death.

Abatayo believed that one of the police officers was the one who accidentally shot his son.

"Tuo jud ko nga ang pulis ang nakaigo sako anak kay pagabot nako sa hospital niana man sya nga pasayloa jud ko dong wa jud nako tuyua, na-slide jud ko dong," he said.

Mark mentioned that he was playing with Skyler before he left home. Hours later, he just learned that his son died of a stray bullet.

He said that Skyler, who is enrolled as a nursery student at a private school, was studying at the time of the incident.

The child wants to become a priest.

Skyler's mother, Gwynn Shanieka, said that the boy was just beside her when he was hit by the stray bullet.

She also said that she didn't know that there was a commotion happening that time.

She also said that she didn't hear a gunshot nor aware about an ongoing police operation near their place.

“Wala ko kadungog nga naay mga pulis kay di man madungog sa among kwarto kay ang ubos internetan man na dayun saba niya apil sad ang aircon sa kwarto nga saba,” she said.

“Di lalim, di ko kadawat hangtod karon. Sakit kaayo mawagtagan og anak,” she added.

CHR-7 Chief Investigator Leo Villarino, for his part, said they will conduct a motu propio investigation into all killings that happened, including that of Abatayo.

Villarino is asking the victim's family to cooperate in their investigation.

Cebu City Police Office Director Royina Garma said that the police officer who talked to Mark reportedly did not say that he apologized to the family and that he admitted that he was the one who accidentally shot the boy during the investigation.

"I would like to correct it hindi yun buy-bust when you say buy-bust, planned operation, somebody called police station 5 informing yung police natin nga na may ongoing pot session at repacking ng drugs sa isang abandoned na payag, so pumunta yung apat police natin dun in plain clothes," Garma said.

The police found the four suspects having a drug session in the area and one of the suspects had a gun. That's when the encounter occurred and a gunshot was heard. The suspects immediately escaped through a small hole believed to be connected to other houses.

The police were not able to arrest the suspects because they stopped when they knew that one child was hit.

One of the police carried the child and brought him to the hospital.

Garma also expressed her disappointment on the barangay officials because of the lack of assistance during the operation “at that time nga nalaman ng mga tao na may natamaan na bata gidumog ang pulis, walang elected officials na lumabas at walang barangay captain na nag-intervene apat na pulis ko lang versus taong bayan, they don't even know the reason why nandoon yung police natin."

She also refused to name the four police officers and said that they will not be relieved from their posts because there was no case filed against them.

DEMOLITION

Meanwhile, Mayor Tomas Osmeña planned to demolish houses where people caught having drug sessions, as he wants to be aggressive against houses used as drug dens.

“Not only in Ermita (all 80 barangays). I have to be more aggressive on this,” the mayor told reporters.

Osmeña said he was told that the boy who was killed by a stray bullet lives beside an abandoned house reportedly used as drug den in Ermita.

The mayor said he will start the demolition of the houses of the abandoned house in Ermita to let the people know that he is serious in his plan.

Osmeña believed that he does not need to issue an executive order or wait for passage of an ordinance for this plan to be implemented.

He would have wanted to immediately implement his plan but he said he will further consult his lawyers since he will do his authority to crackdown on structures used as drug dens like hotels, or other areas.

Osmeña said he would not mind as to who owns the house or the structure, for as long as it is being used as drug den.

The city's Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE) will be the one to execute the demolition.

“So I'm going to have that house demolished. And I'm warning the people in Ermita that any house that is caught having a drug session, if you don't produce your building permit, I will demolish the house. Sige mag drug session pa mo dinha,” the mayor said.

When asked for the buybust in hotels, Osmeña said he will do whatever he can in pushing his limits of his authority to implement his plan. The mayor also said he already gave P10,000 cash to the family of the boy hit by a stray bullet.

Osmeña said he also paid for the autopsy of the body of the victim, adding that the city government will take care of the burial expenses and other expenses of the boy.