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PANIQUI, TARLAC – The father of the man who was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer here on Sunday calls on the public to stop insulting the policeman’s 12-year-old daughter on social media.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday also called on people to spare the girl her anger and stop condemning her on social media.
Florentino Gregorio, father of Frank Anthony Gregorio, 25, who was shot and killed along with his mother, Sonya Gregorio, 52, by Police Sergeant Major Jonel Nuezca here on Sunday, said the girl’s parents were the culprits of how he reacted to the altercation between mother and son and the policeman.
Don’t hit her
“If she was raised properly, she will not act that way. At that moment, I should have feared the shooting and ran away crying, ”Gregorio told reporters.
But let’s not hit her. She is just a girl. The child lacks adequate parental care. . . I know it was painful for them too, ”he said.
Videos of the incident showed the girl standing near her father during heated exchanges with the Gregorio’s.
At one point during the confrontation, the girl yelled at Sonya Gregorio: “My father is a policeman.”
“I don’t care,” Gregorio yelled at him, infuriating Nuezca, who drew his M-92 9mm service pistol and shot him point-blank in the head and then Frank Anthony Gregorio twice. Before leaving with her daughter, Nuezca again shot Sonya Gregorio while she was lying on the ground.
The authorities have brought charges of double murder (or two counts of murder) against Nuezca in a court in Paniqui. The prosecutor has not recommended any bail for Nuezca’s temporary release.
Comments on social media about the killings were hostile to the policeman’s daughter.
Taking note of the public’s reaction, DSWD said people should avoid angering the child.
Psychosocial support
In a radio interview Tuesday, Irene Dumlao, a spokeswoman for DSWD, said the girl was at an early stage in her life where she had yet to learn to control her emotional urges.
Dumlao said DSWD conducted an evaluation in Paniqui and provided psychosocial support to the minor and residents of the neighborhood where the killings occurred.
“Psychosocial support is [focused not only] in the individual, but [also on] the whole community. It is important that they recover and [be rehabilitated] of this incident, ”he said.
Maria Lourdes Carandang, a clinical psychologist, said Tuesday that the policeman’s daughter should not be bullied in cyberspace, as the girl was not the one who pulled the trigger.
“Let’s not blame the wrong person. It is unfair. We must blame the person who committed the crime, not the child, ”Carandang said in an interview.
Witnessing the killings was traumatic for the girl, but seeing that her father was behind the gun made the killings doubly traumatic for her, Carandang said.
He said it was unfair for the policeman to kill the Gregorio and irresponsible as a father to commit the crime before his son.
“You are always the role model for your son,” Carandang said.
She said it was necessary for the girl to undergo therapy and a good intervention to process the trauma and learn to behave well.
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