KARAPATAN condemned the killing of three teenagers by a member of Task Force Disiplina in the early morning of October 12, 2026.
The three youth, whose ages range from 15 to 19 years, were among a group of five teenagers staying in front of a store in Batasan Hills at around 2:00 a.m. The TFD member reportedly approached the group, and told them that it was too late for them to be outdoors. The youth just ignored him and turned to leave, but the policeman took out a gun and began shooting at them. Two from the group were able to run to safety, but three suffered fatal gunshot wounds—one was shot in the head, one in the chest and one to his side.
Disturbingly, the TFD member, who was later arrested and charged with three counts of murder, has shown no remorse, saying he had gotten rid of “dregs of society.” Said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay. “His attitude is reminiscent of Rodrigo Duterte’s derisive view of the drug suspects from impoverished communities whom he viewed as subhuman, and whose killings he ordered.”
“In his time, Duterte had also launched Oplan Tambay, which rounded up thousands of urban poor residents nationwide, including minors, for supposed violations of local ordinances. He arbitrarily linked these petty violations to drug use, theft and violence,” noted Palabay. Marcos Jr.’s ‘safer cities, project’ which took off on the same premise as Duterte’s Oplan Tambay, infamously resulted in the arrests of tens of thousands of poor residents across the country.
“Repeated saturation drives undertaken in urban poor communities have the aim of normalizing an increasing intolerance of all perceived violations of social order, no matter how minor. The fatal police shooting of the three youth for a mere curfew violation not only reflects a striking anti-poor bias but the heightened fascization of law enforcement under Marcos Jr.,” she concluded.