Sonny Espinosa, one of the seven killed by armed masked men on Wednesday night, just turned 16 last month. Little did he know it would be his last birthday. 鈥擱AFFY LERMA
Seven people, including three teenagers and a pregnant woman, were shot dead on Wednesday night by armed masked men looking for a drug suspect in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City.
鈥淭hese boys are innocent. They killed our boys,鈥� the mothers of Jonel Segovia, 15; Sonny Espinosa, 16; and Angelito Soriano, 16; told the Inquirer.
Police said they were eyeing the possibility of the killings聽being the result of a gang war.
But the mothers said their suspicion was that聽the gunmen鈥檚 real target was Jay-R Santor, a drug suspect who earlier surrendered to authorities under the government鈥檚 鈥淥plan Tokhang.鈥�
At 9 p.m. Wednesday, the masked men who were on motorcycles did not know where to find him so they fired into the two adjacent shanties in Phase 8, Barangay 176 owned by Santor鈥檚 parents.
The teenagers, along with their friends, Kenneth Lim, 20; and Edward Villanueva, 18; were in one of the shanties where a dance party was in full blast. Lim was also killed while Villanueva was wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment.
In the other shanty, three of Santor鈥檚 relatives鈥攈is mother Cristina, 45; brother Ednel, 22; and sister Analyn, 28, who was pregnant鈥攄ied. Santor, meanwhile, reportedly escaped by diving into the creek behind their house.
鈥淢y son just turned 16 and they killed him like a chicken, as if he were an animal,鈥� said Espinosa鈥檚 mother, Maria Isabelita.
When interviewed by the Inquirer, she, along with relatives of the other victims, were standing outside Crystal Funeral Parlor where they were begging authorities to release their kin鈥檚 bodies so that they could go to another establishment with cheaper rates.
According to the teenagers鈥� mothers, none of their children were drug users or had criminal records. Their only fault was being friends with Santor, they added, angry at claims that the boys were involved in the drug trade.
Segovia鈥檚 father, coconut vendor Jimmy, leaned on a car for balance as he gasped for air. 鈥淢y son is innocent,鈥� he said.
Espinosa turned 16 last month while Soriano turned 16 in September. Segovia, on the other hand, just turned 15.
Just minutes before their death, they were in their respective houses. Then, Villanueva invited them to a party at the Santors鈥�.
Abby, Soriano鈥檚 sister, said Santor鈥檚 uncle had put up a gang called Scout Royal Brotherhood and recruited the boys. It was normal for them to hang out at the Santors鈥� house every now and then, she added.
鈥淏ut my brother does not use drugs. He does not even smoke cigarettes because one time, we caught him smoking cigarettes and we beat him up. So he stopped. Now they telling us he鈥檚 using drugs?鈥� Abby said.
One thing the boys had in common was poverty, the reason why they were killed, according to Maria Isabelita, Espinosa鈥檚 mother.
鈥淚f the suspect is rich, they鈥檙e set free. If they鈥檙e poor, they end up sprawled on the street,鈥� she said.
She added: 鈥淭he killers who did this will never have peace. 鈥淭hey may escape from the law of man, but they will pay. They will pay! There is a God.鈥�
Maria Isabelita and the other relatives had another complaint as well.聽 鈥淲hy do they want us to pay P40,000 when we can pay just P7,500 at another funeral home? We are poor, we don鈥檛 have money. Our children already died and they still want to rob us,鈥� she said.
Hours after the massacre, she and the other kin of the victims were pleading with the police and employees of North Star Funeral Homes鈥攖he police-accredited funeral home which earlier picked up the dead鈥攖o turn over the bodies to them.
Since they were not given the right over their lives, maybe the families could have, at least, the right to handle their death?
When the funeral home refused, the families blocked the vehicles bearing their dead. 鈥淵ou cannot take them and make us pay a fortune. We have no money to pay you. Give us our dead,鈥� said Segovia鈥檚 sister,聽 Jenny.
A policeman later assured the relatives that the bodies would be brought from North Star to the one they had chosen: Alexander Funeral Homes.
However, the remains were taken to Crystal Funeral Homes instead. But before the bodies could be unloaded, the victims鈥櫬� families arrived and blocked the process.
Another standoff started, this one lasting from midnight to 1:45 a.m. until the police and funeral home management relented, finally releasing the victims鈥� bodies.