Filipino / Philippines
Si Kian
(Kian)
Cahiles, Weng D.
(text)
Aguirre, Aldy C.
(illus.)
Quezon City, Metro Manila: The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, 2017. – [32] p.
(Series: The PCIJ Story Project)
ISBN 978-971-868-648-5
Philippines | History 2016-2017 | Human rights | Drugs | Violence | Murder | Picture book
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2018
Kian Loyd delos Santos, a seventeen-year old student, was killed in an “antidrug operation” by policemen in Caloocan City, Manila, on August 16, 2017. His death sparked public outrage, and his funeral turned into a protest against the “Drug War” of the Philippine government, which by 2018 had resulted in an estimated death toll of 20,000 persons. When police and state-controlled media claimed he was killed in self-defense, it needed an unconventional way of defending the truth against fake news. Prize-winning children’s book author Weng Cahiles, renowned illustrator Aldy Aguirre, and journalist Kimberly dela Cruz collaborated in this first story project of the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism. It aims at exploring new ways of reporting stories that matter and at exposing wrongdoing in society. Its first picture book about Kian’s short life and the truth about his death was released on Facebook and Instagram on September 5, 2017.