Senator Risa Hontiveros has underscored the need to break the “grim pattern” of the government’s war on drugs, which involved the killings of children and teens during police operations.
Hontiveros called on the Senate to investigate the death of the latest victims—including a teenager—in Laguna.
Her proposed Senate Resolution No. 776 was in response to the death of 16-year old Johndy Maglinte and his companion Antonio Dalit in an alleged shootout in Binan.
“Is this a war on our children? These deaths are more than just ‘operational lapses.’ This is a total and disgusting disregard for the life of children. This is not the first time a minor was killed because of sloppy police operations,” the senator said.
She said the pattern of “unimaginable state cruelty” must stop immediately.
According to the family of Maglinte, the teenager was handcuffed and lying face down when he was shot by police officers.
The provincial Philippine National Police, for its part, insisted that Maglinte and Dalit resisted arrest and exchanged gunfire with officers while they were serving warrants.
Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, recognized the swift action of PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar for initiating a probe on the killing in Laguna and putting the police officers involved under restrictive custody.
“This is the kind of response we need to start real cultural change inside the PNP. I believe Eleazar is up to the challenge of transforming existing police protocols to reduce misconduct among their ranks. As an institution, it should be unacceptable that minors are dying by the hands of police,” she said.
“We need to put an end to these needless deaths….Never our kids.
That is not up for debate,” she said.
