Cabaero: Death of man seeking his son’s killers

IN the number of unsolved killings in the country these past months, what stand out as excruciating are instances when a family member investigating the death of a loved one is in turn killed.

What could be more painful than losing your seven-year-old son in an accidental shooting incident? Losing your husband, also in a shooting incident, just three months after your son died.

Marilou Batucan, 50, described herself in news reports as probably the unluckiest person in the world after she lost her son, and then her husband who was trying to find out their son’s killers. Their son, San Niño, was collateral damage in the government’s drug war as police believed he was hit by a stray bullet fired by men running after a teenage drug suspect last December 4.

Her husband, Wilson, demanded that investigators find the killers to seek justice for their son. Published reports said Wilson had pursued the case and had received information from those who revealed they could identify one of the gunmen. Wilson died last March 28 after he was shot in the head by an unidentified gunman. Police have not determined if his death were related to his son’s killing. Wilson was a tanod or a barangay police member and sometimes worked as habal-habal or motorcycle taxi driver.

This story is similar to an incident in Manila when a brother who was investigating the killing of his sister was in turn also killed. This and the story of the Batucan family cannot be ignored. It was unfortunate that the mother lost her son, sadder that her husband followed just months later while seeking justice for their son’s death. The case of the Batucan family hits close to home. They are from Consolacion, Cebu, and they are possible victims in the ongoing war against drugs, the controversial campaign that had international governments and human rights organizations criticizing President Rodrigo Duterte.

It is personal to the Batucan family with Mrs. Batucan reportedly wishing ill on the killers of her husband and son. It may not be personal to the rest of the community but there should be outrage for the violence on the streets and a call for justice for those killed.

u2022••

Road royalty.

They act like royalty, expecting others to stop, genuflect and let them pass. But habal-habals are not special, some probably even illegal, yet they impose themselves on commuters as kings of the road.

There is no such thing as road royalty or the privileged few when it comes to our city streets. This claim of the habal-habal rests only on their ubiquity and the convenience they offer commuters tired of overcharging taxis and overloading jeepneys.

The SunStar website at www.sunstar.com.ph published Monday the first part of its special report on how habal-habals are now invading cities. The series will continue to the second and third parts.

To view the special report online, go to www.sunstar.com.ph/new-king-road. The first part is in today’s issue of the SunStar Cebu newspaper.

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