Akbayan

Government witness protection program is lion’s den for witness

Akbayan commends the bravery of Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio “Ambo” David in protecting the witnesses of Kian Delos Santos’ killing and taking in the father of the witnesses into the church’s custody.

On Saturday, a stand-off was started by the Public Attorneys Office (PAO), the Philippine National Police-Center for Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) in Caloocan City when they insisted on the father of the witnesses to remove the children from the protection of the Church. 

The standoff in Caloocan shows that PAO and PNP-CIDG is unfit to provide the safety and security needed by the witnesses and their families. Their act of forcing the witnesses to be under their custody reveals that they...