The Caloocan Regional Trial Court today convicted three cops for the murder of 17-year-old Kian Delos Santos during an anti-drug operation in 2017.
Those convicted were police officers聽, reported ABS-CBN News. All three were sentenced by Judge Rodolfo Azucena Jr. to reclusion perpetua [a form of life imprisonment].
PHP100,000 (US$1,907) as civil indemnity, the same amount for moral damages and exemplary damages, and PHP45,000 (US$858) as exemplary damages, reported Rappler.
However, the three men were found not guilty for planting firearms and drugs on Delos Santos.
The crime occurred in Caloocan’s Barangay (village) 160 in August 2017. The policemen accused Delos Santos of working as a drug courier, .
The cops said 聽because he fought back during his arrest, but a CCTV footage from the crime scene and
A聽witness testified that Delos Santos, a Grade 11 student, begged for his life. 聽before he was shot by the policemen: “Please stop, I still have an exam tomorrow.”
Delos Santos’ death triggered a public outcry in the country but then-Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa defended the three cops. He said suspects arrested by policemen are not killed
According to Human Rights’ Watch,聽President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial drug war聽. Despite this, the government has no plans of stopping. In his State of the Nation speech this year, Duterte said the war “will be as relentless, as chilling, if you will, as the day it began.”
