(Eagle News) — Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Thursday expressed “profound dismay” over the death of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman, as he admitted the “whole nation was in the process of rethinking how we do things” as a result.
“It is with profound dismay that we regard (De Guzman’s) disturbing death..,” he said during a news briefing.
According to Abella, the National Bureau of Investigation has “already been ordered to conduct a thorough investigation and case build-up over the killing of the young boy.”
As for the cases of Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Kian delos Santos, who were killed also reportedly by erring policemen, he said an “impartial investigation” with no “whitewash” was underway.
“The fact that the (Philippine National Police) is being investigated, that there are Senate hearings, this indicates that the whole nation is in the process of rethinking how we do things and so that is a part now of the entire restructuring and redoing,” he said.
Asked if the Palace was amenable to the idea of creating a task force that will look into extrajudicial killings, Abella said it was “open” to all “significant, workable solutions.”
3 killed
The police said De Guzman’s body appeared to have been burnt and bore 31 stab wounds when he was found on Wednesday in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, kilometers away from where he was last seen with his friend, Arnaiz.
The Caloocan police said Arnaiz was killed in a shootout with patrolling policemen who chased after him after he held a taxi driver at gunpoint on Aug. 18.
The Caloocan Police said it was Arnaiz who first fired at them, prompting them to retaliate.
But Arnaiz’s parents disputed the police account, noting the autopsy findings the Public Attorneys Office said showed the boy had been tortured before he was killed.
PAO said Arnaiz bore handcuff marks and had a swollen eye.
Delos Santos for his part, was killed after he resisted arrest in an anti-drug operation led by the Caloocan Police on Aug. 16, police said.
But Saldy Delos Santos, the boy’s father, disputed the police account, noting that there was footage from a barangay closed-circuit television camera that purportedly showed his son being held by two policemen.
“How could he have fired at the police?” the father asked.
