Civil society groups protest the police shooting of the Gregorios in Quezon City. Photo by Kodao Productions, a content partner of Global Voices, used with permission.
Christmas week in the Philippines opened with the killing of Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her son Frank Gregorio, 25, by police officer Jonel Nuezca on December 20. Nuezca, a Master Sergeant who was off-duty and in civilian clothes when the incident happened, was caught on video using his service pistol to shoot his neighbors outside their home in Paniqui, Tarlac north of the national capital Manila.
Earlier in the same video, Nuezca and his 12-year-old daughter are shown in a heated exchange with the Gregorios over the use of
MANILA: The brutal killing in broad daylight of an unarmed mother and son by a police officer following an altercation over the use of a holiday noisemaker has outraged the Philippines.
The brazen incident, which was caught on video that has since gone viral on social media, has triggered renewed calls to end police brutality in a country where claims of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers by lawmen have been rampant since the start of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
In the five-minute video, Police Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca can be seen confronting his neighbor, Frank Anthony Gregorio, 25, while the latter’s mother, Sonya Gregorio, tightly wraps her arms around her son to hold him back. The incident transpired Sunday, around 5:10 p.m., just outside the residence of the victims at Barangay Cabayaoasan, Paniqui, Tarlac in Central Luzon.
An off-duty police officer’s brutal killing of a mother and son in broad daylight has sparked massive outrage in the Philippines.
Caught on video: At the beginning of a clip that went viral on social media, 52-year-old Sonya Gregorio is seen with her arms tightly wrapped around her 25-year-old son Frank Anthony Gregorio, as they were being confronted by Sergeant Jonel Nuezca in their own home at Barangay Cabayaoasan, Paniqui, Tarlac.
Nuezca reportedly went to Gregorio’s house at around 5 p.m. on Sunday to confront him over the noise he made from a home-made air cannon, reports Rappler.
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Philippine police officer shoots dead mother and son on camera, reigniting nation s debate over police impunity
Regine Cabato, The Washington Post
Dec. 21, 2020
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MANILA- The sudden brutal killing of a mother and son, caught on camera late Sunday in the Philippines, has cast a harsh new light on the rampant abuse of authority by police under President Rodrigo Duterte.
The plainclothes police officer, identified as Senior Master Sgt. Jonel Nuezca, abruptly shot Sonya Gregorio, 52, and Frank Anthony Gregorio, 25, after an argument in Tarlac, a province about 80 miles north of Manila.
The incident on Sunday was recorded by a witness in a graphic video. It showed Nuezca pull out a pistol and shoot the gray-haired mother in the head and then her son as they clutched each other, before giving them a second bullet each. The video quickly went viral, prompting an administrative investigation and murder charges against the police officer. He has
BBC News
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image captionThe UN and human rights groups have accused Filipino police of killing with impunity
A police officer in the Philippines has been arrested and charged with the double murder of a mother and her son following a dispute.
Jonel Nuezca turned himself in on Sunday after he was accused of shooting his neighbour Sonya Gregario, 52, and her 25-year-old son Frank.
A video, shared on social media, shows him firing another bullet at Ms Gregario as she lies on the ground.
The killings have prompted an outcry and renewed calls for police reform.
Mr Nuezca, who was accompanied by his young daughter at the time, has not publicly commented on the incident. But local police chief Noriel Rombaoa told local broadcaster DZMM that he admitted to the killings.