Youth activists, priest urge gov’t: End ‘policy of killing’

Placards from members of Youth Resist in front of Camp Crame to protest killing of 14-y/o Reynaldo de Guzman. JHOANNA BALLARAN/INQUIRER.net

“End the policy of killings.”

This was the call of running priest Fr. Robert Reyes and youth activists who staged a protest in front of Camp Crame on Thursday condemning the killing of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman.

About 20 protesters from Youth Resist and Akbayan Youth joined the rally.

Reyes, who has been vocal against the government’s war on drugs, opened the protest with a prayer as he held a twig with green leaves as a symbol of peace.

“O, Panginoon, wakasan niyo po and delubyo ng dugo (Oh Lord, please end the deluge of blood),” Reyes said.

Akbayan Youth Secretary General Shamah Bulangis called for the end to the government’s deadly crackdown against drugs, which she described as the state’s “policy to kill.”

“No matter how hard (President Rodrigo) Duterte tries to hide his policy to kill, the blood of the young people killed are on his hands,” she said.

De Guzman, also known as “Kulot” to his family and friends, was found dead on Tuesday, floating in a creek in Barangay (village) San Roque in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija. His head was wrapped in plastic and masking tape, similar to the victims of vigilante killings.

The boy disappeared on August 18 together with 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz as they went out for midnight snack in their neighborhood in Cainta, Rizal.

Arnaiz was found in a morgue in Caloocan City 10 days later, killed in a shootout with the police after mugging a taxi driver.

An autopsy, however, showed that Arnaiz was handcuffed and tortured before he was killed on his knees.

De Guzman is the 77th youth killed under the war on drugs, Duterte’s violent campaign that has killed thousands of drug suspects. je