11th batch of drug war victims inurned
The families left behind by eight victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs vowed on Saturday not to be cowed into silence or abandon their long struggle for justice.
But during the inurnment rites of the 11th batch of victims whose remains were placed at the Dambana ng Paghilom (Shrine of Healing) in Caloocan City, the families chose to honor them not as victims, but as people who may have been flawed but loved by many.
They were Adrian Romero, 18; Darwin Dacillo, 24; Regie Boy Jaranilla, 24; Ronnel Obenita, 30; Vicente Rufino, 24; Alex Bigonte, Jr., 47; Marlon Ballonico, 50; and Artemio Lusadio, 61.
They are part of Program Paghilom, started by Father Flaviano “Flavie” Villanueva, who seeks to exhume victims of extrajudicial killings (EJK), have the bodies autopsied before they are finally cremated, so their loved ones can finally mourn for them at their final resting place.
Diorenda Ballonico, the sibling of Marlon, who was gunned down by men in a motorcycle in 2020, said: “We will not allow him to be just a name in a long list of [deaths] soon to be forgotten. We will not stop calling for the truth. We will not stop looking for justice, not only for my brother but for all of us who are victims of this violence.”
“We lost him without a trial, without an opportunity to explain, without respect for his character. This is the reality of EJK victims. A system that kills not just the person, but also the family and the hope for justice and trust in the system that should be protecting us,” she said.
Nimfa, a sister of Alex who was shot dead multiple times in 2020 by unidentified men who barged into his house, said she has been finding it difficult to adjust to the loss of her closest sibling.
Her only partner
“He was my only partner in taking care of one of our siblings who is a PWD (person with disability). He was actually the one who did most of the work,” she said in an interview, breaking into tears.
She could not accept that he was not given his day in court. “I wish they just followed the law [and gave him due process].”
The partner of Darwin Dacillo, a victim at the height of the drug war in 2016, said she was enraged by the developments in Duterte’s murder charges in the ICC.
“It’s like they come up with stories just to delay the hearings,” she told the Inquirer.
A dozen armed men who were said to be police officers broke into their house and chased Dacillo, who hid in the gap of their ceiling. The killers then shot him dead in various parts of his body and tortured him after, peeling his tattoo off, strangling him with a belt and beating him up.
Dacillo was with Romero, who was only a teenager when they were gunned by alleged police officers the day after Christmas. Romero’s mother said that his son begged for his life, but the next day, he found out that his son was already dead.
Jaranilla, another victim, was picking vegetables from their backyard in the wee hours of May 4, 2020, in Caloocan City, when masked men came up to him to shoot him. He tried to jump off a nearby river, but the bullet still caught his body.
Rufino, who was held in Quezon City Jail on drug charges before he was freed due to lack of evidence, was not exonerated in the eyes of the killers. Unidentified men still went after him and gunned him down in his house in January 2020.
Also in the same month, policemen, who were with a barangay watchman, stormed the house of Obenita and ruthlessly killed him and two others.
More than 100 urns
An elderly, Lusadio was playing chess when he was killed by a gunshot by unknown suspects. He was rushed to the hospital, but he died 10 days later due to gunshot wounds in his liver, diaphragm and stomach.
More than 100 urns of EJK victims, many of whom died by gunshot wounds either by police or unidentified armed men, under the program are now kept at the shrine in La Loma Catholic Cemetery.
Despite the pain and grief that the families are reeling from, Villanueva reminded them that they gained a family in Program Paghilom. He also urged them to continue the fight not only for their loved ones, but for the country.
“I hope you find healing. But I also ask that you also join the fight to defend the country that has been wounded and forsaken,” the 54-year-old priest said, addressing the families.
