De Lima vows to get justice for girl slain in drug war

FLOODED WAKE Losing her 5-year-old granddaughter, Danica, had been difficult for Gemma Garcia (foreground) and her family. But mourning her death with their feet soaked in floodwater had made the experience tragic. GABRIEL CARDINOZA/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

DAGUPAN CITY—Sen. Leila de Lima on Sunday vowed to help get justice for the family of a 5-year-old girl, who was shot dead here last week by a gunman who was reportedly after her grandfather.

Danica Mae Garcia, a kindergarten pupil, was the 26th fatality in the war on drugs in the city. Her burial is scheduled on Wednesday at 7 a.m., when high tide normally floods Mayombo village where the Garcia family lives.

De Lima arrived at the Garcia home at 5 p.m. on Sunday and stayed for about 10 minutes to get details of the attack, according to Danica’s grandmother, Gemma Garcia.

De Lima was escorted to the area by policemen.

Gemma’s husband, Maximo, was the apparent target of the gunman, identified last week by a witness as Bryan Macaayao. Maximo is being treated for a wound in the stomach in a hospital guarded by policemen.

The Dagupan police said Macaayao was the first suspect to be identified in 26 shooting cases attributed to the antidrug campaign in Dagupan since July 1.

Police have no suspects for the other cases, including the July 19 killing of graduating student Rowena Tiamson, 22, whose remains were found tied with a piece of cardboard identifying her as a drug pusher, and Clifford Manaois, 20, who was caught in a crossfire when a gunman pursued his target.

The families of Tiamson and Manaois said they were not drug users or traffickers and may have been collateral damage in the ongoing campaign against illegal drugs.

“So far, [Danica’s killing] is the only case where a suspect had been identified. But we have been [constantly] coordinating with other law enforcement agencies [to] cross-reference evidence [for the other 25 cases],” Supt. Neil Miro, city police chief, said on Monday.

Miro presented the witness, a woman, who identified Macaayao. He said the police would launch a manhunt as soon as the court issued a warrant to arrest the suspect.

The witness said she and her husband were six to eight meters away from the Garcia house when a motorcycle, with two men on board, sped past them.

“One of the men alighted from the motorcycle and started firing. I was so afraid. I told my husband that we should leave immediately,” she said.

The gunman aimed the gun at them as he and his companion fled, the witness said. “As he pointed the gun on us, he removed the cover on his face. That’s when I remembered that he was the same man who sold “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) in [Barangay] Bonuan Binloc,” she said.

Miro said that it took him a long time to encourage the witness, especially when she learned that Macaayao was also charged with murder in 2013. Yolanda Sotelo and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon