Senator Francis Pangilinan on Wednesday urged netizens to be vigilant against trolls who were paid to misinform people that 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos indeed used and peddled illegal drugs.
“Niloloko ang taumbayan ng mga bayaran na trolls na sinisiraan pa ang walang-awang pinatay na si Kian,” Pangilinan said in a Facebook post.
(The paid trolls are deceiving the public and slandering Kian who was brutally killed.)
“Mag-ingat. Huwag magpaloko. Huwag malinlang (Be careful. Don’t be fooled. Don’t be duped),” he said.
Pangilinan’s post was accompanied with a screenshot of a supposed troll on Facebook, a certain Jane Sandigan who claims she’s a neighbor of Delos Santos.
Sandigan, using a fake account, slammed news agencies reporting Delos Santos’ death, as well as the Liberal Party for backing Delos Santos and spreading “malicious and intense” propaganda. She said Delos Santos was known in their neighborhood as a drug addict and pusher.
In the same post, a Facebook user called out Sandigan for stealing and using the former’s picture.
Delos Santos is the latest victim in the government’s brutal drug war, which had led to death of over 12,000 individuals, mostly small-time pushers, since Duterte took office July last year.
Police claimed the victim, who they said had sachets of shabu and a .45 caliber hand gun in his possession, fought back, prompting them to shoot Delos Santos.
But several witnesses have come out to say that the cops mauled and murdered the defenseless Delos Santos. Interviewed by the media, Delos Santos’s family, neighbors and classmates maintained that the victim never used drugs.
Security footage near the crime scene also captured two Caloocan cops take him to the dark alley where he was shot. His autopsy also showed that his killing was “intentional” as he sustained three gunshot wounds to the head.
The Senate will launch a probe on his death and the spate of drug killings on Thursday. JE