THE recent death of minor that also showed police atrocity and brutality as captured by CCTV and buttressed by testimonies of some witnesses has greatly enraged many people. No less than President Duterte himself had said that he would never condone abuse of authority in the exercise of police duties and or power.
The head of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), perhaps touched by the barbaric way the crime was committed, promised legal help to the family of the victim, Kian delos Santos, including putting the witnesses who have received death threats under the Witness Protection Program. Well and good.
Now, let’s go to the stupidity of the policemen involved in their effort to cover-up their crime. They insisted that the boy resisted arrest and engaged them in a firefight.
But it was very clear in the video footage from the CCTV camera that the boy Kian had no firearms. And the corpse of the lad was still holding a gun even if he had two bullet holes in the head and one bullet hole in the back. Fit for Ripley’s “Believe it or Not.”
The spokesperson of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said that the death of Kian de los Santos, which showed lapses in the administration’s war on drug, is an isolated case.
One too many? Maybe or maybe not.--Jose G. Hortelano of Biasong, Balamban, Cebu
Agricultural lands
Did we elect blind leaders or is it only the money that rules the Philippines?
In the country, only 40 percent of our total land area is prime agriculture land and with the population growing by 5-6 percent per year where will we produce our food when the agriculture lands are turned into subdivisions?
The problems that we have is curruption in all areas of government where lands zoning is changed from agriculture to industrial for a fee. We need to wake up and do the right thing to protect our dwindling agriculture lands, or starve in the future.--Alfredo Acopan