The teachers, classmates, and neighbors of 17-year-old Eusebio High School (EHS) student Emmanuel Lorica are demanding justice after her was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at an evacuation center in Pasig City last Dec 6.
“Lorica — a city government scholar who belonged to a star section at EHS — was killed while asleep inside one of the tents sheltering 15 families displaced by a fire in Barangay Rosario’s Tramo area. His girlfriend happened to be sleeping beside him at that time,” reports Jodee A. Agoncillo Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The repot noted: “The Pasig police said Lorica was included in the barangay watch list as user/pusher. However, Barangay Rosario chair Aquilino dela Cruz said the slain student was not on the local drug watch list, but a separate investigation he conducted had the same findings about Lorica being an alleged ‘runner’ for a drug dealer.”
But Lorica’s guidance teacher Mildred Manubag told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: “He was a very bright and sweet child. He was even part of the city scholarship program. He was clean. He was not involved in any trouble since he started studying here. He did not look like an addict and he was not a courier in school.”
The report further explained that “Lorica was one of the recipients of Bobby C. Eusebio (BCA) scholarship, a program named after the incumbent Pasig mayor.”
By all indications, Lorica had a bright future, which got snuffed out on the night of Dec 6.
According to witnesses, about eight men whom they’ve never seen before arrived at the evacuation site late at night. They appeared to be looking for someone.
One of the men, who later turned out to the gunman, looked into some tents before finding the one occupied by Lorica. At that time, Lorica’s girlfriend and fellow EHS student was sleeping beside him.
Lorica was lying on his back, with a towel covering his face, when he was shot in the head. When the gunman removed the towel from Lorica’s face, he allegedly said, “Hindi ito (This isn’t the one).”
The gunman and his seven companions quickly fled from the area on motorbikes.
Meanwhile, Lorica’s remains were brought to his hometown in Bicol. Lorica’s mother happens to be in Dubai and his aunt served as his guardian.
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