NGO: Bato’s ‘shit happens’ remark shows gov’t unconcern for war vs drugs deaths 

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s remark on the recent death of a 3-year-old girl in a buy-bust operation shows the government’s lack of concern for the fatalities in the government’s war on drugs, a non-government organization (NGO) said.

“Instead of showing sympathy over the death of the toddler Myka Ulpina, Sen. Dela Rosa’s statement that “shit happens” to describe the killing, only shows the government’s lack of concern and tendency to dismiss deaths relating to the war on drugs,” the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) said in a statement.

This comes after Ulpina was killed in as she was reportedly used a human shield by her father during a shootout with police officers in a buy-bust operation in Rodriguez, Rizal. Aside from the 3-year-old, her father, another drug suspect, and police Senior Master Sergeant Conrad Cabigao were also killed in the shootout.

When asked about this, Dela Rosa said that although policemen do not want civilians harmed in anti-drug operations, “shit happens.”

“But of course, we are in an imperfect world. If you’re a policeman, do you want a child to be hit? Never, because you have a child as well. You don’t want something like that to happen. But shit happens during operations, shit happens,” Dela Rosa said in a media forum at the Senate on Thursday.

READ: Shit happens, Bato says after a child got killed in drug bust

“This incident further justifies CRC’s appeal to the UN Human Rights Council to immediately conduct an impartial investigation into numerous incidents and cases of human and child rights violations and abuses in the Philippines,” the NGO said.

“Without such action from the international community, the slaughter of Filipinos, mainly from the poor, would continue as shown by the ever-growing record of violations and abuses caused by the drug war and the culture of impunity in our country.”  (Editor: Mike U. Frialde)