1 injustice too many

Justice Secretary Vit Aguirre is trying to downplay the killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos by policemen as an “isolated incident” and blames the media for “blowing it out of proportion.”

The boy’s murder has sparked national outrage and yet Aguirre thinks it’s no big deal.

Unless the justice secretary is callous, he should know that every injustice committed is one injustice too much, too many.

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The claim by the erstwhile Caloocan City police chief, Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna, that Kian’s drug courier activities were reported on social media stinks.

So, he based his intelligence reports about Kian on social media, which spews out mostly rumors and trash.

There is a Tagalog saying, “ang naniniwala sa sabi-sabi ay walang bait sa sarili (he who believes in unsubstantiated statements is a simpleton).”

How did a simpleton like Bersaluna ever get promoted to a rank equivalent to a full-fledged colonel in the military?

Well, there are so many simpleminded officials in the Philippine National Police that one wonders how it ever functions efficiently as an organization.

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The greatest simpletons, to my mind, are the members of the Daanbantayan police station in Cebu province, especially its chief, Senior Insp. Irish Dilem.

The Daanbantayan police filed a case of carnapping with frustrated homicide against two siblings—18-year-old Althea Flores and her 16-year-old brother—for allegedly snatching a motorcycle from its rider who was stabbed 53 times.

Althea is an honor student.

The alleged robbery and stabbing took place at 1 a.m. of June 3, 2017, in a deserted area in the town.

The Flores siblings were at the police station from 12:05 a.m. of June 3 to complain after having a fight with their neighbors who were much older.

The above entries are recorded in the blotter of the police station.

Take note of the time of the robbery—1 a.m. of June 3, 2017—and the time the Flores siblings were at the station, which was 12:05 a.m. of the same date.

As all complaints go, the police took so much time taking down the statements of the Floreses.

When the Flores siblings were taken to the hospital for medical examination after their statements were taken at the police station, curious onlookers noticed the bloodstains on their shirts which they got from their fight with their neighbors.

And so the kibitzers concluded that the siblings were the culprits in the robbery-stabbing incident, wherein the victim was also taken to the same hospital.

The policemen, apparently taking the cue from the kibitzers, took the Flores siblings back to the station and booked them for carnapping with frustrated homicide.

The siblings have since been detained and awaiting trial for a crime they never committed.

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Sen. Ping Lacson’s exposé on the Senate floor naming corrupt officials and employees at the Bureau of Customs was right on target, except for a few who also got hit.

Ariel Nepomuceno, deputy customs commissioner for enforcement, did not accept bribes and neither did he demand any, as far as I know.

Many customs insiders have told me about Nepomuceno.

A former cadet of the Philippine Military Academy, he has been trying to reach the President to report irregularities in the bureau, to no avail.

“I hope the rampant corruption under (Customs Commissioner Nicanor) Faeldon reaches Malacañang,” Nepomuceno once told this columnist.