The Philippine government, through the National Bureau Investigation (NBI), has recommended the filing of murder charges against four police officers for their involvement in the killing of a male teenager in Caloocan City in the Northern Philippines.
The victim, Kian Loyd Delos Santos, was killed two weeks ago that sparked national protest against the Philippine government for its careless and violent campaign against illegal drugs that cost the lives of 3,000 drug suspects since the campaign begun last year.
Included in the complaint sheet filed by the NBI are Police Officers Jeremiah Pereda, Jerwin Cruz, Arnel Oares and their team leader Chief Inspector Amor Cerillo.
Two weeks ago, 80 drug suspects, including Delos Santos, were killed in a span of three days as a result of the anti drug operations conducted by the police.
The police officers claimed that Delos was a suspected drug courier who was armed and tried to shoot them first but a CCTV video showed that he was summarily executed and there were no signs of resistance from his side.
Moreover, the NBI investigators also claimed that based on their paraffin examination on Delos Santos hands turned out the results were negative and based on the autopsy there were no signs that he violently resisted.
The investigation also showed that Delos was shot while he was kneeling down and it refuted the suspects' claim that there was a shootout between the two parties.
One witness also said that the victim, before he was shot, was pleading to let him go home to study for an exam the following day.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has urged policemen to kill drug couriers because it is just a waste of government money to file illegal drug charges against them.
