Do you remember the kid who, while playing with his friends in their Tondo neighborhood, was shot dead by a police officer out of nowhere? And do you remember the police officer’s excuse? It was an accident he said, that while patrolling the area he tripped and accidentally fired his gun. The kid’s name was Aldrin Pineda. He was 13 years old.
Do you remember that, in that same neighborhood, a secret detention facility was discovered where kidnapped drug suspects were kept, tortured and raped, and their families extorted huge sums of money for their freedom? Do you remember that this secret jail was found inside a police station—a tiny one by five meter unventinalted room hidden behind a bookshelf, where at times 30 people had to cramp inside? Who knows if this secret jail still exists—the police officers involved had all been promoted.
Do you remember the two kids who went on a trip to Baguio but never made it back alive? One, police said, was killed in a shootout with police officers after failing to stop at a checkpoint on a motorcycle. A claim, her mother says, is impossible since the kid didn’t know how to drive a motorbike. Meanwhile, the other kid remains missing to this day. Their names were Joshua Laxamana and Julius Sebastian. They were 17 and 15 years old.
Do you remember the night of December 28, 2016, when unidentified men looking for a drug suspect opened fire on shanty houses at a slum community in North Caloocan? Seven people died that night, including three minors and a pregnant woman. The incident was dubbed as the Caloocan Massacre. The fatalities that night were: Angelito Soriano, 16; Jonel Segovia, 15; Sonny Espinosa, 16; Cristina Santor, 45; Ednel Santor, 22; Kenneth Lim, 20; Analyn Dayamla, 25 and her unborn child.
Do you remember the little boy who, one night while sleeping in their home at a slum in Pasay, was killed together with his father by bonnet-wearing gunmen? Police claim his father was a notorious drug suspect. The killing left an eight-month-pregnant woman at that time a widow and with one less child. The boy’s name was Francis Manosca. He was 5 years old.
Do you remember the three kids, who went missing one night and whose bodies later turned up dead the following morning? Their throats had been sliced, and a cardboard sign next to them warned the trio’s friends that they would be killed next. The girlfriend of one of the kids even received a text message from one the killers using the kid’s phone, taunting her—”He’s dead. What a pity.” Their names were Jerico Garcia, Harold Bulan, and Jomari Sinerez. Jerico was 16, Harold and Jomari were 17. Harold was deaf mute.
Do you remember the little girl who was shot dead by police? Police claim she was used by her drug-suspect father as a human shield while resisting arrest. “Shit happens”, said one senator who used to be the police chief. The girl’s name was Myca Ulpina. She was 3 years old.
Do you remember the teenager who was executed in a dark yard in Navotas? The day before he got into a fight with one of his neighbors, who went to the barangay and reported him for selling marijuana. The night after he was forcibly taken by bonnet-wearing men in motorcycles. He was taken to a dark yard where residents saw him being taunted. “Run!” his killers said, but he couldn’t—he was club footed. So they shot him dead. His name was Raymart Siapo, he was 19-years-old.
Do you remember the two teenagers, who one night went missing from their neighborhood in Cainta? One, police said, was caught in shooutout with police officers in Caloocan who claim he had tried to rob a taxi driver. The police say they had found marijuana and shabu on him. His mother wonders how this was possible—the boy was suffering from depression and didn’t like leaving the house. How could he suddenly leave their house one night and decide to rob a taxi driver kilometers away from home? Meanwhile, the other kid remained missing for 20 days until his body was found floating in a river in Nueva Ecija, a hundred kilometers away. His head was wrapped in tape, and his thin body bore 30 stab wounds. Their names were Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo De Guzman, 19 and 14 years old.
And do you remember the kid who pleaded with police officers not to kill him because he had a test the next day? “Please don’t, I have a test tomorrow”, he begged. The police claim it was a legitimate police operation and that the kid fought back, but security footage later revealed that he was dragged helplessly to a dark alley where he would be executed. At the crime scene he was found holding a gun on his left hand, but he was right-handed. His name was Kian Delos Santos. He was 17 years old.
If you remember any of these names, then you would know who the real terrorists are.
