Tokhana victim’s daughter shares painful ordeal: mistaken identity

MANILA, Philippines — Jesel Pepito is confined to a wheelchair due to a disease that began three years ago. However, her limited mobility did not prevent her from visiting the burial urns of her father and uncle, both victims of Oplan Tokhang, on All Saints’ Day.

Jesel went with her brothers to Dambana ng Pagilom at La Loma Cemetery in Caloocan City to lay flowers and pray to their slain loved ones.

Marlon and Maximo Pepito, who both worked at the port in the city of Navotas, were killed by authorities during a police operation in January 2017, at the height of the previous administration’s war on illegal drugs.

READ: Wounds still fresh for families of Tokhang victims

But Jesel said her father was the victim of mistaken identity while her uncle was only trying to calm the situation.

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“My father’s name was similar to another suspect, so he was wrongly accused,” she told INQUIRER.net.

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“They said that while my dad was being arrested, my uncle tried to get between them. He asked them: “What did my brother do?” He spoke Bisaya, so the police didn’t understand him, so they shot him,” she recalls.

Jesel said one of her siblings witnessed the incident, which left him traumatized.

“It was so painful that I still couldn’t accept it,” she said.

However, life goes on for Jesel and her other siblings, who now do odd jobs to survive.

For her part, Jesel, 22, is also a Grade 12 graduate and is now preparing for therapy sessions as doctors have promised that she will be able to walk again after a few therapy sessions.

Since the candles were almost burnt out, Jesel and her brothers decided to put an end to it.

Before leaving the temple, Jesel said to one of her brothers, “Let’s come back here after I graduate.”