Funeral
By Tina Cuyugan

Funeral service for Kian de los Santos, 17, victim of state-sanctioned extrajudicial killing under Tokhang, at the Sta Quiteria Church in Caloocan. The crowd overflowing into the side chapels and driveway. Grim-faced residents. Weeping neighbors. Human rights groups. Children with their arms around their friends’ shoulders. Lawyers from SAMASA. Nuns. A man standing quietly among the mourners looked familiar: Bro. Armin of DLSU. En route from the barangay hall where the wake had been held, the funeral procession stopped for prayers in front of the police precinct where the alleged killers were based. The windows and doors stayed shut, as the people chanted, “Hustisya, hustisya.” There was a large SUV, an official car of the DOJ, parked right behind the hearse. I asked the two guys sitting in it, why are you letting this happen? They said nothing. I walked into the church, ran into an EJK beat reporter — one of the “night crawlers” who’d been chronicling the Tokhang killings night after night, district after district. He looked exhausted, since he had gone to the church directly from his beat. There had been a kind of moratarium on Tokhang EJKs in the area, he said, following the public furor over Kian’s death.
If nothing else, Kian’s murder has stayed death for a handful of other souls.
At least for now.
