Militant solons seek probe into Arnaiz’s killing

The progressive Makabayan party-list bloc has condemned the killing of 19-year-old student Carl Angelo Arnaiz and called for an investigation into his case.

Militant lawmakers filed House Resolution No. 1279, which described Arnaiz as “another victim” of the Duterte administration’s so-called war on drugs, which, it also said, “is being waged in total disregard of due process and rule of law and has already claimed thousands of lives.”

The resolution was signed by Representatives Carlos Isagani Zarate (Bayan Muna), Antonio Tinio and France Castro (ACT Teachers), Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Party), Ariel Casilao (Anakpawis), and Sarah Jane Elago (Kabataan).

HR 1279 noted that Arnaiz, whom the police claimed was a robbery suspect, was killed only days after 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos.

Arnaiz and Delos Santos were allegedly killed by Caloocan City policemen purportedly after resisting arrest (“nanlaban” in the vernacular), as they were likewise accused of carrying illegal drugs.

The resolution cited that Public Attorney’s Office Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta saw a “pattern” in the killing of both Arnaiz and Delos Santos.

“Both occurred in Caloocan, as well as both [victims] came from poor OFW families and were supporting their meager family incomes by maintaining a small sari-sari store,” the militant lawmakers noted, adding that the killing incidents happened at the height of the Caloocan police’s anti-drug “One Time, Big Time” operation.

A CCTV video showed police in plainclothes accosted Delos Santos before being killed last August 16.

Arnaiz, on the other hand, went missing for 10 days before his family found his corpse at a morgue last August 28.

READ: PAO autopsy: Carl Angelo Arnaiz was shot 5 times – 3 in the chest 

His family denied police allegations that the teenager was a robber. Last August 18, Arnaiz went missing after going out at midnight to have a snack with a friend identified as 14-year-old Reynaldo De Guzman, who remains missing as of posting.

Last month, the Makabayan coalition asked Congress for an investigation on Delos Santos’ killing.

Three House resolutions seeking to investigate the killings hounding the Duterte government’s anti-narcotics campaign have remained pending for a year already. kga