Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday laid the blame for the death of teenager Kian Delos Santos at the feet of President Rodrigo Duterte, saying the chief executive's "policy statements" laid the groundwork for the killing.
Trillanes made the pronouncement after attending the wake of the Grade 11 student, who was killed by Caloocan City police last week in a drug operation that has been a large part of Duterte's war on drugs.
"'Yung policy statements ni Pangulong Duterte, maliwanag. Sabi niya patayin ninyo. Pagka walang baril, bigyan n'yo ng baril," said Trillanes, one of Duterte's fiercest critics dating back to last year's election campaign.
"Maliwanag ito sa kaniya ito nanggaling, walang ibang sisisihin dito," he added.
The Senate has passed a resolution condemning Delos Santos' death, which will be probed by a committee on Thursday.
Duterte has yet to address the Delos Santos case, but Malacañang had earlier described his death as "isolated."
The President has previously come under fire from critics and human rights groups over the rising death toll in his war on drugs.
Duterte has repeatedly bristled at the criticism, saying that deaths were necessary as drug suspects were prone fighting against police. Duterte has also repeatedly maintained that he would not let cops go to jail if they are charged in connection to their operations. —JST, GMA News
Source: msn
