Fr Robert Reyes, Student Leaders File Petition for DOJ Secretary to Inhibit at Kian Delos Santos Case

A group of student leaders and law students are filing a petition in the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday for Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to inhibit himself from the probe on Kian Delos Santos’s slay.

The group is joined by the 'Running Priest' Father Robert Reyes known for his unique protest actions against corruption and Father Flavie Villanueva, SVD, who advocates for reformed drug addicts.

The group, made up of 4 universities and groups around Metro Manila, say that Aguirre has “already prejudged the case” following his statements that Kian’s slay is “blown out of proportion” and the witnesses may have been “brainwashed”.

“It is our view that the DOJ Secretary’s involvement in the case of Kian de los Santos is detrimental to having a thorough and impartial investigation of the case.” Kathleen Benavidez of UP Law School said.



The students responded to Aguirre’s remarks that they are “uninformed or ill-motivated” in filing for him to inhibit.

“Aguirre, the Fake News king, has chosen to undermine us rather than respond to the growing call for him to keep his hands off the case,” Student Council Alliance of the Philippines OIC Secretary General Jeza Rodriguez said. “His attempts of muddling Kian’s case is widely-publicized and we have his quotes on our petition.”

The students also cite Aguirre’s record of whitewashing cases of police abuse by downgrading the charges against the 19 cops accused from murder to a bailable offense homicide in the case of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa last November.



“Aguirre will defend Duterte’s murderous anti-drug campaign to death,” Karla Yu of Millennials Against Dictators said. “Having Aguirre’s hand into the case will end with having no justice for Kian at all.”

The group is made up of students from Bukluran UP System, UP College of Law, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines and Millennials Against Dictators.

The groups are calling for the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct the preliminary investigation for this case instead, citing its impartiality and neutrality.