“The poor should have a way to use the justice system for their benefit. The high price of pursuing justice makes the poor choose to evade it.” – FLAG lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno
By Jhong dela Cruz
Bulatlat.com
The relatives of 21-year-old Jonas “Chukoy” Nucum and his brother, Tonton, could only gnash their teeth in anger over their death. They couldn’t immediately bring to court the victims’ alleged killers and they don’t trust the prevailing justice system in the country.
Chukoy died instantly when his throat was slit-open with a knife by a gang member in the urban poor community of Bambang, Tondo on July 2. He was a member of the militant youth Anakbayan (nation’s youth) at the time of his death.
Family shock did not end with Chukoy’s killing. An ex-policeman fired a warning shot in a youth ramble that ensued after the killing. A bullet hit Tonton, 19-year-old brother of Chukoy, when he dashed to take his brother to the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital. Tonton, also an active member of Anakbayan, also died.
Marietta Nucum, 42, the victims’ aunt, said in a Bulatlat interview, “Hindi kami umaasa na mabigyan ng katarungan yung mga bata” (We’re not hoping justice will be served in the brothers’ killing).
What adds to Marietta’s doubt that justice will be served for her nephews is that persons implicated in the killings are reportedly protected by an influential businessman in Tondo, home to several slum communities which, according to police reports, also remains crime-infested.
In the killings of Chukoy and Tonton, it took their kin a month before they could file formal complaints against the suspects on August 2.
Wenceslao Nucum, father of the victims, said they had filed criminal charges against one Noli also known as (a.k.a.) “Buddha” and Paul Vinirao, for two counts of murder.
Homicide
Nucum said the Bambang police station tried to reduce the charges to homicide. He opposed this, he said, insisting that the accounts of the killing clearly spelled murder. “We’re awaiting subpoena to be issued against the suspects,” he said in Filipino.
Murder suspect Vinirao used to be active with the Philippine Constabulary (PC), now the Philippine National Police (PNP). At the height of youth activism during martial law, he was reportedly involved in the arrests and disappearances of organizers of people’s organizations in Tindalo, Tondo.
Vinirao is now a “right hand” of a former PC man who now runs a chain of medical supply shops in Ermita, Manila. Noli, Chukoy’s alleged killer, also works for the shop owner. The suspects’ link to the businessman, who is apparently influential in Tondo, might elude them from being prosecuted, Nucum said.
“Areglo” has also come into play in the victims’ case. “Areglo” is an extra-legal deal that involves money aimed at silencing a victim or his relatives.
“They tried to bribe us with money,” Nucum said, declining to state an amount. Also, the other party has lobbied with village officials, particularly the chairman, to settle the case through “areglo” to which Chairman Ben Fernando refused. Tonton was serving as baranggay tanod (village security) at the time of his death.
