The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction of three police officers for the murder of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, marking the first extrajudicial killings–related conviction during the Duterte administration’s war on drugs to be upheld by the high court.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Lopez, the Court ruled that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the officers conspired to kill the teenager during an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City.

The Court dismissed the appeals filed by PO3 Arnel Oares, PO1 Jeremias Pereda, and PO1 Jerwin Cruz and upheld the rulings of the lower courts finding them guilty of murder.

FACTS AND ISSUE

Kian, a Grade 11 student, was killed on August 16, 2017 during a police anti-drug operation in Barangay 160, Caloocan City. Kian was accosted by police officers near a neighborhood pharmacy, dragged toward a dark alley near a riverside area, and later found dead with gunshot wounds to the head.

The prosecution presented eyewitnesses who testified that officers Oares and Pereda frisked and maltreated Kian before dragging him away, while Cruz accompanied them and stood guard. 

Witnesses recounted hearing Kian beg for his life moments before gunshots rang out. CCTV footage, forensic examinations, and ballistic evidence corroborated the eyewitness accounts, including findings that Kian was likely in a sitting or kneeling position when shot and that his hands tested negative for gunpowder residue.

The defense, for its part, claimed that the killing resulted from a shootout, asserting that Kian allegedly fought back during a legitimate police operation. The accused invoked the presumption of regularity in the performance of official duties and denied conspiring to kill the victim.

In 2018, the Regional Trial Court of Caloocan City convicted Oares, Pereda, and Cruz of murder and sentenced them to reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole, while acquitting them of separate charges for planting of evidence. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction in 2022.

The case reached the SC through separate appeals filed by the accused, raising issues on alleged inconsistencies in prosecution testimonies, the credibility of forensic findings, the absence of conspiracy, and the applicability of the presumption of regularity in police operations.

RULING

The SC dismissed the appeals and sustained the murder convictions, holding that the prosecution evidence—including eyewitness testimonies, forensic reports, and CCTV footage—clearly established that the accused police officers acted in concert in killing Kian delos Santos.

The Court ruled that the alleged inconsistencies pointed out by the defense were minor and did not affect the core facts of the case. It further held that the presumption of regularity in the performance of official duties could not prevail over positive evidence showing unlawful conduct by the police officers.

The Court also affirmed the finding of treachery, noting that Kian was unarmed, restrained, and in no position to defend himself when he was shot at close range. It found that Cruz’s act of accompanying the other officers and standing guard during the killing established his participation in the conspiracy.

“The manner by which Kian was killed negates any claim of lawful police action,” the Court said, emphasizing that the evidence showed a deliberate and coordinated assault that ensured the execution of the crime without risk to the assailants.

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