BAGUIO CITY – An official of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) criticized the leadership of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) and the Tuba Municipal Police Station for giving her and her relatives the alleged runaround and their reported inaction when the matter of their missing kin was brought to their attention.
PCO Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag claimed BCPO officials never bothered to act on the report that her 19-year old kin went missing since October 14, 2016, and never bothered to inquire from the parents of her missing kin the circumstances on how he went missing.
Banaag’s 19-year old kin, who is a hotel and restaurant management graduate, was reportedly last seen in the company of Epler Locloc, an alleged drug suspect, whose lifeless body was later found dumped in Lamtang, Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet with two gunshot wounds on his chest and strangulation marks on his neck.
Locloc is married to a native of Kadaclan, Barlig, Mountain Province which happens to be the place of origin of Banaag’s missing kin.
“We do not claim that my missing kin is clean. We fully support the Duterte administration’s aggressive anti-drug campaign. What we are demanding from our police is sensitivity in extending assistance to individuals seeking assistance from them relative to enforced disappearances that have happened since the implementation of the campaign,” Banaag stressed.
The Palace official said BCPO officials patently refused to provide her with information when they reported to them her missing relative. Tribal elders from Barlig and Natonin, Mountain Province have resorted to consulting fortune tellers just to be able to locate the remains of her relative.
She said what their relatives want is to have the remains of their missing kin be given the appropriate wake and burial because the fortune tellers informed them that the body of their young relative was allegedly dumped by his killers somewhere in the ridges of Tuba, Benguet.
According to her, what she wanted from the BCPO was for them to be honest about what happened to her missing kin and for them to assist in locating his whereabouts.
Banaag explained her relatives are now afraid of the police because of the trauma created by the sudden disappearance of their young kin, thus, police officials have to do something about the bad impression that has tainted their integrity and the government’s anti-drug campaign before the situation goes out of control.
She warned responsible police officials that her family will not take what happened to them sitting down because their missing kin has become a victim of enforced disappearance and could probably be one of those victims of extra-judicial killings being allegedly perpetrated by law enforcers themselves who want to please higher authorities at the expense of innocent lives that are lost primarily because of suspicion that they are involved in the trade and use of illegal drugs.
Banaag challenged the local police force to be sensitive about their actions relative to those involved in illegal drugs, citing the need for them to value the importance of the life of the people. By HENT
