VACC hits politicians using teen slays for partisan cause

Volunteers against Crime and Corruption founding chair Dante Jimenez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

An anti-crime group on Monday urged politicians to stop using the deaths of 17-year-old Kian Delos Santo, 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynald “Kulot” De Guzman to advance their political agendas.

“It is heartbreaking to watch the cases of the three slain youths so insensitively manipulated and politicized by some sectors for their own agenda when what their families simply seek is justice for their murdered children,” an emotional Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) founding chairman Dante Jimenez said at a press conference.

“Please, if you bear grudges against the Duterte administration or if you have issues against the President’s war against drugs – don’t drag the poor victims’ families into your brand of dirty politics,” Jimenez said.

With this, he asked the groups against Duterte, if they are sincere in helping the victims, to “have the heart to leave their cases to the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), the DOJ (Department of Justice), the PAO (Public Attorney’s Office).”

Jimenez explained the three government agencies are “lawfully in charge of those things.”

He also assured the witnesses will be safe under the DOJ’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).