Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / EDWIN BACASMAS
Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta on Monday described as “just a theory” the claims of President Rodrigo Duterte and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II that the recent killings of three teenagers could be part of a conspiracy to destabilize the government.
Speaking with reporters, Acosta said there was no evidence yet that could link any opposition politician or group to the deaths of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman.
The killings of the boys drew widespread public condemnation and fueled speculation that the Philippine National Police was targeting the youth in carrying out Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs.
Prudent thinking
“It’s difficult to give a categorical answer to that,” Acosta replied when asked to comment on Mr. Duterte’s claim.
“But any prudent mind can think of that theory,” she said in an interview after the preliminary investigation of the killings of Arnaiz and De Guzman in the Department of Justice.
“Anybody, even ordinary Filipinos, would think that this could be sabotage… because why will the policemen do that to (Delos Santos) when they knew that there was a CCTV in the area?” she added.
As to the possibility that politicians may be charged in the killing of the teenagers, Acosta said: “We don’t file cases just for the sake of filing a case. We make sure that a person may be held liable based not just on mere suspicions or probability. We look for evidence which can sustain conviction.”
Albino Valenciano, the lawyer for two Caloocan City policemen accused of killing Arnaiz and De Guzman, maintained that his clients were not involved in any destabilization attempt against the Duterte administration.
Valenciano said PO1 Jeffrey Perez and PO1 Ricky Arquilita were only doing their job when they killed Arnaiz in an alleged shoutout.
“That’s absurd. There is no truth to that,” he said of the supposed destabilization plot. “My clients had no knowledge of any destablization plan against the President.”