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VOL. XXXI • NO. 194 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
FUNERAL FUELS OUTRAGE VS EJK T
HOUSANDS of Filipinos Saturday called for an end to extrajudicial killings as the funeral of a boy killed by police turned into the largest single demonstration yet against President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war.
BY THE HEROES. An unidentified male snaps the picture of his female companion beside the bronze figures of Filipino heroes at the Andres Bonifacio shrine at riverside Liwasang Bonifacio (formerly Plaza Lawton) two days before the country marks National Heroes Day. (Story on A3) Ey Acasio
The killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos last week triggered rare protests against Duterte’s controversial but popular campaign to eradicate drugs, with critics saying it highlighted rampant rights abuses by police enforcing the crackdown. Delos Santos’ slay had sparked public outrage and raised questions on the conduct of police operations while the boy, who dreamed of becoming a policeman, was laid to rest while his family cried out for justice. Delos Santos was buried on Saturday afternoon at the La Loma Cemetery in a ceremony attended by hundreds and watched by thousands more on social media. During the rites, hundreds of onlookers scrambled for space to get a closer look, blocking those who carried the teen’s casket into his crypt, his final resting place among multi-level niches at the cemetery. Earlier, the teen’s funeral car—a truck bedecked with flowers where his casket was placed—made a sentimental stop at Caloocan City’s Police Community Precinct 7, the station where the cops linked to his death were assigned. Wearing “Justice for Kian” T-shirts, the slain teen’s family attended his funeral Mass Saturday morning at the Sta. Quiteria Church. Saldy delos Santos, father of the slain teen, gave an emotive message and ode to his son at the Mass rites. Since Duterte’s term began 14 months ago, police have reported killing 3,500 people in anti-drug operations, with thousands more murdered over drug-related crimes and in unexplained circumstances. Duterte and his drug war are backed by a large majority of Filipinos fed up with high crime and a slow-moving judicial system, according to national polls. Turn to A2
COPS-SUSPECTS MAY TURN STATE WITNESSES—PAO
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PALACE GIVES PH ATHLETES A PAT ON BACK By John Paolo Bencito THE Palace on Saturday expressed gratitude to athletes who raked in medals for the country in the ongoing 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “Congratulations to all Filipino athletes who played and won in yesterday’s events in the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement read over state-run radio dzRB. As of August 26, the Philippines has won 15 gold, 21 silver, and 36 bronze medals. Turn to A2
NOKOR FIRES SHORT-RANGE MISSILES SEOUL—North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday, the US military said, reviving tensions with Washington after President Donald Trump had said Pyongyang was starting to show some “respect.” The launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the south of the peninsula, which the North views as highly provocative. Following an initial US assessment saying that two of the missiles had “failed in flight”, a spokesman for the US Pacific Command later said the two weapons had not failed but “flew approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) in a northeastern direction.” One of the three missiles blew up “almost immediately,” with none of the weapons posing a threat to either North America or the US territory of Guam, the spokesman said. Lee Il-Woo, an analyst at Korea Defence Network, said the launches represented a “low-level provocative act” carried out in response to Turn to A2
RODY TO EAT 'BALUT' AMID OUTBREAK By John Paolo Bencito
By John Paolo Bencito
PUBLIC Attorneys Office chief Persida Acosta on Saturday raised the possibility of having accused Caloocan cops in the brutal killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos as ‘state witnesses’ should they come clean and help ensure that the boy’s family finds justice. “If anyone of those charged would turn into a state witness, it would be good because God could even forgive him—if remorse was there,” Acosta said in a radio interview. Acosta, who is serving as legal counsel to the Delos Santos family, did not detail however whether she sees a higher official as having ordered the killing. To be considered state witnesses, the policemen involved in the killing Turn to A2
JUDO, TAEKWONDO SAVE DAY FOR PH
POIGNANT STOP. The funeral march for slain 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos makes a pause in the socalled last mile in front of Caloocan City Police Community Precinct 7, where the three policemen implicated in his death—for which they face murder charges—were assigned. Andrew Rabulan
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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will be feasting on balut (duck eggs), barbecue and fried duck to assure the public that poultry and poultry products are safe to eat amid the avian flu, a senior Cabinet official said. In a recent Facebook post, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said that the President will join poultry, duck and quail farmers in a “boodle fight” in San Fernando, Pampanga to restore “consumers’ confidence that Philippine poultry products are safe to eat” despite the bird flu outbreak that hit three towns in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija. “Ako daw dapat ang magkain ng balut para malaman ng mga tao na safe na,” Pinol said, quoting the President who instructed the Presidential Management Staff “ to squeeze into his tight schedule my request for him to support the poultry industry.” Turn to A2
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