Press Release
August 17, 2018

"To fight national amnesia"
MARKER COMMEMORATING KIAN AND EJK VICTIMS UNVEILED

One year after the Caloocan teen, Kian Loyd Delos Santos was murdered in a controversial police anti-drug operation, a commemorative marker was unveiled today in his memory by family, friends, church people and advocates to remind the public of the atrocities committed under President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.

In a "prayer of blessing and unveiling ceremony" which was officiated by the Diocese of Caloocan at the Plaza Yniguez, San Roque Cathedral Compound, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop Emeritus Deogracias S. Iniguez, Jr., the family of Delos Santos and Akbayan Sen. Risa Hontiveros led the public unveiling of the marker.

Hontiveros said that the marker is part of their collective effort to defend the truth and their search for justice against the government's systematic attempt to whitewash the countless cases of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and other abuses that happened in the implementation of its drug war.

"National amnesia"

"We will not allow our countrymen and women to fall into and suffer from a deep national amnesia. We will continue to defend the memory of Kian and all the innocents felled in President Duterte's brutal war on drugs,' Hontiveros said.

"We will not relent in seeking justice. We will never forget and allow these atrocities to go unpunished. To remember is to defy, to forget is to give consent," Hontiveros said.

It was reported that the opposition Senator filed a resolution on Wednesday seeking to declare the 16th of August as a "National Day of Remembrance" for Delos Santos and all EJK victims. Delos Santos was killed by thr Caloocan City police in an anti-drug operation in their barangay on August 16 last year.

Hontiveros said that by remembering all those who have been felled by the government's drug war, the public states its clear rejection of the culture of killing and impunity, and the brazen disregard for due process and human rights in the country.

After the public unveiling of the Kian marker, a memorial mass was celebrated by Bishop David. It was attended by members of Akbayan Partylist, as well as relatives and friends of delos Santos.

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