The politics of Kian’s death

For the past few weeks since the death of Kian delos Santos, there has been a lot of noise and protests from all directions — from those who want to uphold human rights to those who support the presidential rhetoric of killing druggies in order to save the nation.

Just like any other teenager, what if Kian did some drugs? Will the supporters then turn around and say “serves him right?” The President said in his speeches and pronouncements that he will absolve policemen who are found guilty as long as they were doing their police duty in pursuant to the war on drugs.

He also said he favors vigilante killings because of the corruption within the court system, so how will we know now if suspects are murdered before they are even charged or investigated? He claims that the police are one of the most corrupt and yet he gives them the green light.

In his speech last Aug. 23 at the inauguration of a solar plant in Batangas, he said that he would gladly step down from office if asked because he doesn’t really need it and wants to avoid bloodshed of Filipinos killing each other. Well maybe we have to ask him to step down now. We cannot have the madness of one person ruin our nation.

We just cannot allow wanton killing just like what happened during martial law or what Pol Pot did to his nation because the thoughts of certain individuals did not conform to an almighty leader. We have to draw the line, it is either we are for the senseless killings or not. We also have to educate die-hard Duterte supporters that people fight for the human rights of victims because if the wrong person is tagged and the case is closed, the real perpetrator gets away scot-free. We are all in this together.

JOSE SANTAMARIA, [email protected]