Senators doubt cops’ claim Kian into drugs

The police tagged slain teenager Kian delos Santos as a drug courier based on the claim of a drug suspect and testimonies on social media, the former head of the Caloocan City police said on Thursday.

Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna told the opening of the Senate investigation into Delos Santos’ death that information about the alleged narcotics activities of the 17-year-old student came from Renato “Nono” Loveras and accounts on social media after his death.

Two police witnesses testified that it was PO3 Arnel Oares, leader of the three-member police team, who shot the teenager.

After initially refusing to answer questions because he had no lawyer, PO3 Jerwin Cruz, a member of the team, denied that it was Delos Santos that they were seen  dragging in the widely shared CCTV footage of the incident.

“Actually, sir, we only happened to know the involvement of Kian because the (local precinct) arrested a day after alias Nono. He knew the activities of Kian. So, that’s the time we knew the involvement of Kian,” Bersaluna said at the hearing called by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Thursday.

SENATE PROBE The parents of slain drug suspect Kian delos Santos (left photo), Saldy and Lorenza, and the three policemen
involved in the killing—PO1 Jeremias Pereda, PO1 Jerwin Cruz and PO3 Arnel Oares—show up at Thursday’s Senate committee
investigating Kian’s death. —LYN RILLON

When asked by Sen. Manny Pacquiao how they were able to confirm Loveras’ claim that Delos Santos was involved in drugs, Bersaluna said:  “We also based on … what came out in social media … there were those who were saying … that was our basis.”

Pacquiao told Bersaluna: “You know that reason can’t be allowed here. Really … the public is watching this hearing and it’s too shallow when you say it’s based on social media.”

Bersaluna said the team recovered a cell phone “that showed the transactions” but he was not able to explain how it showed that Delos Santos was involved in drugs.

Delos Santos was killed in a police operation in Caloocan City on Aug. 16, which sparked widespread public anger  against President Duterte’s war on drugs.

Police story

The police said Delos Santos had resisted arrest and fired at the arresting officers.

But an autopsy report submitted by the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) said that based on the trajectory of the bullets that hit Delos Santos, the teenager was lying prone when he was shot.

The boy also was negative for gunpowder burns in his hands, the report said, belying police claims that he had fired a .45 cal. pistol at the arresting officers.

Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police, was asked by reporters to comment on Bersaluna’s testimony.

“The PNP utilizes all available information from various sources,” Carlos said, including social media. “These are subjected to proper validation and processing until an intelligence product is achieved.”

He explained that this vetting process “determines the reliability of the information and the credibility of the source.”

Ballistics tests

The Caloocan Police Community Precinct 7 head, Amor Cerillo, said ballistics tests showed that it was team leader Oares who shot the teenager.

“Based on the ballistics exam, it was P03 Oares … After the operations, the three policemen were subjected to paraffin and ballistics exam … The slug  that was recovered came from P03 Oares,” Cerillo said.

Oares declined to answer questions and said he would give his testimony during the next hearing when he had his own lawyer.

“If you don’t talk when the public here is watching, you’ll be really seen as guilty,” Pacquiao told him.

Cruz and PO1 Jeremias Pereda, the other member of the arresting team, also refused to answer questions because they did not have their own lawyers.

Kian not the target

Upon questioning by Sen. Grace Poe, Cruz admitted that it was he and Pereda who were caught on the CCTV footage, but they denied that it was Delos Santos that they were dragging.

“It was not Kian. It was our asset, our alpha,” Cruz said.

When asked if they could produce their “asset,” or informant, in the Senate, Cruz said: “We are now in custody. Of course, our asset also got frightened.”

Based on the spot report, Bersaluna said Oares’ team was conducting an antidrug operation at around 8:45 p.m. of Aug. 16.

“There was a chase and they were shot at and so they fired back … PO3 Oares went in first and he was fired at and so he returned fire,” Bersaluna said.

Cruz said he and his colleagues were after a drug suspect identified as alias Negro.

“We did not know Kian,” Cruz said. “We saw him only at the scene.”

When asked by Sen. Bam Aquino if Delos Santos had a gun, Pereda said: “It  was dark so we don’t know … he just fired on us.”

Aquino noted, however, that, based on the PAO autopsy report, Delos Santos was already slumped on the ground when he was shot.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the committee chair, asked the three policemen whether it occurred to them that they were acting on an erroneous tip from their informant.

But without lawyers of their own, the three refused to answer.

The parents of Delos Santos—Saldy and Lorenza delos Santos—told the hearing that their son was an upright boy.