Gov’t drug war docu ‘Gramo’ to feature Kian Delos Santos

MANILA, Philippines — The government is releasing a documentary on the heavily criticized war on drugs of President Rodrigo Duterte, which would feature the case of  Kian delos Santos who was murdered by the police in August 2017.

The documentary “Gramo” will premiere on state-run PTV 4 at 7 p.m. on December 12. Produced by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), the documentary would highlight the gains of the government in its brutal narcotics crackdown.

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar described the killing of Delos Santos during a supposed anti-drug operation as the “mother of all cases” involving police abuses under Duterte’s drug war.

“It is the case that’s been focused. It is the case that’s been thrown at the government since that happened, until now. So what we’re doing is we’re showing the public what the government did to the three policemen,” Andanar said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.

In November 2017, a Caloocan City court found Police Officer 3 Arnel Oares and Police Officers 1 Jeremias Pereda and Jerwin Cruz guilty for the murder of Delos Santos.

Since it was launched in 2016, Duterte’s drug war has received international condemnation for alleged human rights abuses.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Aaron Aquino said Tuesday that 5, 552 people were killed in anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2019.

Mostly poor Filipinos have died in the drug war but police said these victims were killed after they fought back during police operations.

Andanar has denied allegations of extrajudicial killings under the government’s drug operations.

“It’s essentially our job to tell the story of government. I mean, it can never be just one-sided; you have to hear the story of government. Whatever the President says on television, on the newspaper, online/internet, all his arguments are here in this documentary,” he said.

“The documentary is saying that EJK is not a government policy,” he added. “But if you are asking if EJK is a national policy, it’s a government policy, never been a policy of the national government.”

The Palace official said the documentary would have a special screening for members of the diplomatic community in the Philippines.

Edited by MUF