Viral Shooting Of Mother And Child, Extends The List Of Cases Of Abuse Of Police Authority In The Philippines

Illustrations (Tsvetoslav Hristov / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The brutal murder carried out by unscrupulous police officers in Tarlac, Philippines was caught on camera on Sunday, December 20. The victim is a mother and child. They were decorated at close range. The killings add to a blacklist of abuses of police power under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Launching The Washington Post, Wednesday, December 23, identified plainclothes police officer named Jonel Nuezca. The incident was flashy. After being involved in an argument, Nuezca seemed to be provoked by his emotions and then vomited the bullet that was in his gun at them.

In the video recorded by a witness being seen, Nuezca fires hot lead twice at Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank Gregorio. The footage went viral, and prompted further investigation.

According to local media reports in the Philippines, before the shooting took place, Nuezca was originally about to arrest Frank Gregorio, who had been playing firecrackers made of bamboo or tin to celebrate the new year. But his mother hugged Frank so Nuezca wouldn't catch him.

Princess Nuezca, who is still a minor, was also present at the incident. He even berated Sonya to let go of his son, shouting: "My father is a policeman!"

However, Sonya replied that he did not care about Nuezca's children. That's when Nuezca replied to Sonya with the dirty words "Do you want me to finish you now?" he said while killing the mother and child.

Alyssa Calosing, who recorded the incident, said other witnesses saw Nuezca hitting Frank Gregorio earlier. People who witnessed the incident burst into tears and asked him to stop. After shooting both of them, Nuezca took her daughter and walked away like it was nothing.

Adding a black screen

The incident also adds to the long list of black shades of abuse of authority by police officers. The public has reacted strongly to thousands of similar cases that have occurred before, since Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of the Philippines in 2016. Under Duterte's drug war, nearly 6,000 people were killed in police operations in late September.

Human rights watchdogs estimate the deaths from such cases could be as high as 30,000, including those killed by a masked person. Human Rights Watch said deaths from the drug war jumped more than 50 percent from April to July during the national key to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chief of police in Tarlac, Noriel Ramboao, said that Nuezca admitted to murdering the mother and son. She said that when she saw the fight between her daughter and the old woman, her gaze darkened and couldn't control herself. Nuezca previously faced two counts of murder that were dropped citing a lack of evidence.

A similar case also occurred in April. At that time, the murder case committed by police officers against former soldier Winston Ragos also went viral. Ragos, later found to be suffering from post-traumatic stress, was shot dead after arguing with police for allegedly violating quarantine restrictions. Investigations later found that the police killed Ragos and hid evidence against him.