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MANILA – Just days before Christmas, Filipinos woke up on Monday morning (December 21) to a heartbreaking five-minute video of an off-duty police officer shooting a neighbor and his son point-blank in broad daylight. of the day for some disputes in front of a small crowd.
The incident was shocking and disturbing in its depiction of blatant impunity, critics said. It has also returned to shed a harsh light on perceived abuse by police officers allegedly emboldened by a president who is said to be agents waging his bloody war on drugs.
The video showed Ms. Sonya Gregorio, 52, with her arms tight around her son, Mr. Frank Anthony Gregorio, 25, as they were confronted by Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, 46, just outside her house in the city of Paniqui, province of Tarlac, 230 kilometers north. from the capital Manila.
Initial media reports said the fight started after Gregorio detonated an air cannon made from PVC pipe around 5 p.m. Sunday, creating loud noises.
Nuezca stormed out of his home to confront and arrest Mr. Gregorio. A heated discussion ensued, not only because of the noises, but also because of a long-running land dispute that Nuezca had with Ms. Gregorio’s family.
His family members gathered around Nuezca when the dispute escalated. A man was seen trying to appease him. A woman was crying and begging Mr. Gregorio to apologize and for Nuezca to leave.
Seconds before the shooting, Nuezca’s daughter, a minor, approached Mrs. Gregorio, patted her arm and told her to let go of her son and hand him over to Nuezca, who by then had grabbed one of the the arms of Mr. Gregorio.
“Drop it! Drop it!” the girl screamed. Mrs. Gregorio told him: “Tell (your father) to let go.”
When the girl yelled that her father is a policeman, the woman replied “I don’t care!” and mocked her.
Nuezca then pulled out his 9mm pistol and shot Ms. Gregorio in the head, with dozens of bystanders and at least two people recording videos with their phones. Then he shot Mr. Gregorio, also in the head.
Just before fleeing the scene, he again shot Mrs. Gregorio in the head when she was lying on the ground.
Nuezca surrendered hours later and now faces murder charges. Investigators said he expressed remorse for what he did.
As of late Monday morning, the hashtags #StopTheKillingsPH, #JusticeforSonyaGregorio, “#EndPolicebrutality, #PulisAngTerorista and #OUSTDUTERTENOW were trending on Twitter in the Philippines and Singapore.
Politicians, celebrities and influencers on social media demanded accountability and justice for the victims.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former police chief, said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should show no mercy. “They should spare no effort to make sure he rots in jail. He’s the last cop they need on the force,” he said.
Opposition senator Franklin Drilon shared the same sentiment. “This is pure evil. That devil who committed an evil act in front of his own daughter deserves to rot in jail,” he said.
[[nid:483249]]Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano, whose ministry oversees the 200,000-strong police force, said: “We do not and will never tolerate such acts and we will ensure that they are held accountable for their crimes.”
But Mr. Ano described it as an “unfortunate but isolated incident”.
“While there are unfortunate incidents like this, the vast majority of our PNP personnel perform their sworn duties every day with honor and integrity to protect and serve the people … Nuezca’s sin is not the sin of all Philippine National Police, “he said. .
Critics of the government disagreed, saying the killing reflected the “executioner mentality” among police officers due to a “culture of impunity” fanned by President Rodrigo Duterte himself.
“This is what happens when the culture of ‘kill, kill, kill’ becomes predominant and reigns supreme between the police and the army. This is also the same system that also allowed this worsening of the state of impunity that today is going crazy in our country, “he added. said deputy Carlos Isagani Zarate of the political party Bayan Muna (First the People).
Drilon said: “As long as the culture of impunity exists in the country, and when there is a system that rewards wrongdoing instead of punishing it, police abuse and violence will continue. Impunity breeds trigger-happy police.”
The International Criminal Court last week issued a preliminary report saying there was evidence to show that crimes against humanity had been committed in the Philippines under Duterte, whose bloody war on drugs has killed thousands since 2016.
The report concluded that there was “a reasonable basis to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture and inflicting serious physical injury and mental harm had been committed.”
At least 8,000 drug suspects have been killed since Duterte took office more than four years ago.
Human rights groups have reported higher figures and said the violence has continued even as the country remains under a coronavirus lockdown announced in March.
But Duterte has stood his ground behind the police, attributing most of the killings to turf wars between drug gangs and exonerating the cops involved saying they simply responded when they fired.
He has said that he will pardon any officer found guilty of murder while he carries out his repression.
So far there has only been one conviction, for the 2017 murder of Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old student. Three policemen were convicted after CCTV footage sparked public outrage.
Critics have said that this high-level rhetoric is being interpreted within the police force as “permission to kill.”
This article was first published in The times of the strait. Permission is required for reproduction.
