Aldrinne Pineda

How could humanity allow these children to suffer such cruelty?

Aldrinne Pineda (“Ilong” as he is fondly called because of his wide nose) was playing with his friends at their Vitas, Tondo neighborhood when a masked man fired his gun at their direction. Next thing they knew, Ilong was bleeding from his stomach. His young friend had to carry him home.

“Pa, binaril ako. Pa, pulis.” Ilong’s father Allan recalled him saying those words as he rushed his son to the hospital. Ilong would die the next day.

Ilong was a good boy who joked around a lot and loved playing sipa. He was set to graduate grade school this year. He had wanted to become a policeman.

Omar Malinao, a policeman, later surrendered to authorities as the one who pulled the trigger. But he claims it was an accident. His story: he was doing his rounds when his gun supposedly fired when he “tripped.”

Ilong was 13 years old. Now his friends have to say goodbye.

These children shouldn’t have to cry over the body of their friend, lying dead inside a coffin.

These children should be out playing games, studying for school, telling jokes, or teasing each other. They should be impersonating their favorite rapper, watching TV, or sharing silly secrets like who their crush is.

These children shouldn’t have to see their friend covered in blood. Blood is something they should only see on their knees when they fall too hard from running around.

They shouldn’t have to grow up in such a cruel world. A cruel world that we created for them.

These pictures should have never been possible.

We can continue with our politics, with our grownup talk.

But these children, they will remain broken for the rest of their lives.

And it’s horribly all our fault.