Youngest Drug War Victim’s Death: Media Echo Official’s Indifference

JEERS TO the media for their uncritical reporting on the latest child casualty in the Duterte “drug war,” with coverage so bereft of context.

Three year-old Kateleen Myca Ulpina was killed in a June 30 police operation that targeted her father, whom police said was a drug dealer. Police also said her father fired at the police and used her as a human shield, a claim belied by her mother.

The media treated Ulpina’s death with hardly any analysis, presenting the case as though it was just another crime story. Early online stories presented the incident as just another drug bust. Primetime newscasts and print news waited days to report on the incident, their stories relying on officials reacting to the conduct of the drug operations.

But reporters asked the former police chief and now senator Ronald dela Rosa to comment on the incident on July 4. Media picked up his response – “Shit happens” – failing to counter the dismissive tone that the “shit” has been happening too many times.  Meanwhile, netizens scored the statement, as other senators took exception to Dela Rosa’s remark.

Reports did not call attention to the other minors who were killed in the three years of the drug war’s implementation. With the exception of Inquirer.net and Bulatlat, no report tried to get the side of groups advocating children’s rights and welfare. Bulatlat observed that minors have become collateral damage in police operations or targets themselves, recalling the case of 17 year-old Kian delos Santos who was killed by the police in August 2017.

The Inquirer’s columnist, Randy David, recalled cases in his opinion piece on July 7, but none of the news accounts in the same paper cited five year-old Danica May Garcia and four year-old Skyler Abatayo as victims in the first months of the drug war. In reporting the death of Ulpina, reporters seemed completely lacking the larger context to recall in their reports these and other cases.

The media also failed to grasp the issue’s significance given the increased attention the drug war has elicited from international organizations. Reports carried Dela Rosa’s apology on July 8 devoid of any reference of the international condemnation of collateral victims and the ruthless use of violence in fighting war. These stories were giving this new politician prominence without noting his role in the implementation of the policy and how he had time and again expressed police misconduct as a norm.

Three years into the drug war, the media continue to fixate on officials’ statements, no matter how offensive or preposterous. The uncontextualized coverage of Myca Ulpina’s death has reduced the loss of a child to a mere statistic, as though it had happened in a void.