In short
Rotten Mango Podcast Notes
Episode Title
#297: Victim Singing K-Pop Song (2NE1’s - I Don’t Care) Leads To Double Murder
Summary In this episode of Rotten Mango, the hosts delve into a tragic and shocking true crime story from the Philippines involving a 13-year-old girl, a neighbor feud, and a double homicide. The narrative details the events leading to the murder of Sonia and her son Frank, committed by Janelle, a police officer and father of the girl involved in the altercation that sparked the violence.
Key Points
The Incident
- A growing mob gathers outside the home of a 13-year-old girl, who is vilified after a video of her confronting a woman went viral.
- The girl, identified in the episode as Ellie, is seen pulling the hair of the woman (Sonia) and taunting, "Do you know who my dad is?"
- Janelle, Ellie’s father, shortly after this confrontation, murders Sonia and her son Frank.
Background of the Families
- The animosity between the two families originated from a land dispute. Janelle had purchased a plot of land from Sonia, leading to a protracted feud filled with legal battles and hostility.
- The narrative highlights the neighborhood gossip about their feud, showcasing how personal grievances escalated over time.
The Murder
- The events culminate on a Sunday when Janelle, feeling disrespected by the noise made during a family gathering by Sonia’s family, confronts Frank.
- Tensions rise into violence, resulting in Janelle using his police-issued firearm to shoot both Sonia and Frank in front of bystanders, including his own family.
Community Reaction
- The aftermath of the shooting led to widespread shock and outrage within the community. Videos of the incident went viral, painting Janelle as a fugitive and one of the most hated men in the Philippines.
- Janelle eventually turned himself in but claimed not guilty in court despite overwhelming evidence.
Legal Ramifications
- Janelle’s criminal history, including previous homicide charges, is discussed, highlighting failures in the justice system that allowed him to serve as a police officer despite a troubling past.
- He was ultimately convicted of double murder and sentenced to 20-40 years in prison.
Social Commentary
- The episode explores themes of police corruption and power dynamics, particularly how Janelle’s status as an officer influenced the incident and the community’s perception of justice.
- The narrative parallels the larger context of police brutality and systemic failures in the Philippines, referencing President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial anti-drug policies that have led to increased violence and lawlessness.
Reflection on the Victims
- Sonia and Frank's family expressed their grief and loss while condemning Janelle’s actions. Despite the profound pain, they chose a path of forgiveness, highlighting the human capacity for empathy even in the face of tragedy.
- The episode closes with a somber reflection on how the events have impacted not only the families involved but also the community as a whole.
Key Takeaways
- The story serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of unchecked power and familial conflict.
- The episode underscores the need for accountability in law enforcement and the importance of addressing systemic issues within the justice system.
Conclusion This episode of Rotten Mango presents a chilling account of how personal vendettas can spiral into violence, leaving lasting scars on individuals and communities alike. The narrative invites listeners to reflect on the complexities of morality, justice, and the human experience.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:01The people outside this teenager's home, they're multiplying by the day. Day one, maybe it's five people. Day two, it's double. Then it's triple. And it seems like more and more people are coming out to this little girl's house and they're screaming her name. Some of them have posters. Some of them are just stringing together these very colorful sentences filled with just the most aggressive curse words that you could possibly think of. There were even rumors that someone was going to light the house on fire. Okay, the plan is we're going to light the house on fire and it's going to force this little girl to come out and essentially face the mob.
0:40She was only 13 years old when she became one of the most hated people in the entire country of the Philippines. A video had gone viral of this teenager yelling at and yanking the hair of a middle-aged woman. Moments later, that middle-aged woman and her son would be murdered. As always, full show notes are available at RottenMinglePodcast.com. This case does take place in the Philippines, so we did get our researcher who actually lives there and speaks Tagalog to help us translate the sources. But as always, if anything was lost in translation or if you have more information about this case, please leave it in the comments.
1:21But there is a video of this incident that has gone viral, like not just in the Philippines, but it's on Reddit. It's known somewhat internationally. So I will say there is a bit of online discourse that is pretty intense regarding the parties involved. I'm going to try to cover most of it, but it is pretty dark. So with that being said, if you've been like an original K-pop fan, you know the song I Don't Care by 2NE1. So it came out over 10 years ago, I want to say in like 2010. They've since disbanded, but this song was everywhere. I mean, it was obviously huge in South Korea, but it was one of the most popular songs in the Philippines.
2:02According to our researcher, you could not get into a taxi, you could not go to a restaurant, a mall, without this song blaring every single place you go. And it was a bop. The song is very uplifting. It's catchy. It's kind of like this I don't care song. Like, I don't care about your opinion. I don't care at all. Like, I'm doing my own thing type of song. It's the type of chorus that sticks to your mind after just listening to it once. But it would be someone's last words. The song, not even the words, I don't care, but the actual chorus of the song. Someone singing that. Yes, were her last words.
2:40In the video, you see a woman about 45, 50 years old, and she's practically kneeling on the ground, screaming, begging, like pleading with this man in front of her, just let me go. Let me and my son go. this little 13 year old girl comes up to her this is the man's daughter and starts slapping at her arms and hands even pulls her hair and the little girl is standing there proudly over someone who is I mean many decades older than her and just says with her full chest you know who my dad is right this 45 year old woman in one last act of defiance looks at this little girl and sings the chorus of the song and she would be murdered immediately afterwards along with her son like in the video you see the murder take place everyone in the neighborhood knew the drama like everyone at first thought it was so fascinating it's the newest neighborhood gossip they're all at dinners they're at barbecues they're doing their little neighborhood walks like you know those two hate each other right what no they hate each other so they would explain well janelle the dad of the family that lives on the left he hates sonia that middle-aged lady that lives right next door to him the two families they hate each other all of sonia's kids that are like 25 ish they all hate janelle so janelle is the little girl's dad yes and sonia is the neighbor middle-aged woman got it and she's got a ton of kids that are like 20 ish 25 ish so older kids right and they hate each other.
4:16And the neighbors are like, wait, I thought everyone loves Sonia. Well, not Janelle. He even tried to run over Sonia's grandkids. In the middle of a day, Janelle was riding his motorcycle back home and they have to use the same road to get to their homes because they're neighbors. And he sees Sonia's little granddaughter standing with her uncle on the side of the road. Apparently, this is the neighborhood gossip. He starts stepping harder on the gas pedal. He's picking up speed. He's going way past the speed limit for a neighborhood like residential zone. He has no intention of slowing down. He zooms right past this little girl less than a foot away from her.
4:53If she had reached out her hand, if she had even leaned a little towards the road, she would have been hit by the motorcycle. He was driving so fast, she actually ended up falling back from the shock and impact of like the wind. So it sounds like they all really, really hate each other, but the neighbors are confused. Why? So for a little while, it didn't make any sense, but eventually it would go to court Apparently everything had been fine until janelle decided to buy a piece of land from sonia It was a lot. It was probably like three or four months of his salary and sonia warned him. Okay. Yes This is a really good investment as a realtor.
5:30I can tell you that I think this plot of land is good But it's gonna be a bit complicated So the way that it's set up is this is a giant piece of land owned by one owner He's going to sell off little pieces of the land, but he's not going to give everyone their deeds until the whole plot of land is paid for. So now if you buy it right now, this little plot A, we have to wait for all the other plots to not only sell, but for those buyers to pay in full. Are you okay with that? And he's like, yeah, I'm okay with that. But a year later, he's like, where's my deed? And that's how this neighborhood feud started.
6:10And so everyone's like, oh, well, that doesn't make sense. So he sued her and took her to court. And then what? She ripped him off? Is that what really happened? Like, what's going on? He takes her to court for embezzlement. He says that it doesn't matter what she said. She did this to embezzle money out of me. I don't think that I'm ever going to get a deed. Even if she had told me it would take a while, it shouldn't take a year. Sonia, meanwhile, is arguing, I have no reason to do anything like that. my reputation in the industry is worth so much more than this. Everyone loved Sonia for being patient and friendly.
6:44She used to be a teacher before she transitioned into real estate. And she was just like this really nice mother, this really kind grandmother. She had no reason to want to trash her whole family's reputation and her career for a quick scam. She argued, I did everything by the books. There was even a representative from the government to witness the whole transaction. But no. Janelle went around screaming about some scam. And in the end, Sonia, because it's so like, in Korean, we have this saying, it's like, it's like so dirty. And so I feel so dirty on the receiving end of these accusations that are completely baseless.
7:21She's like, I feel so dirty. I'm just going to give you your money back. Like, just get away. Like, you think I wronged you when I obviously didn't. So just take the money. I don't even care. Yeah, exactly. So that's what she does. She's like, okay the transaction is null and void take your money and leave but janelle is still not satisfied he actually tries to sue her for embezzlement once more and the whole neighborhood is just confused like okay wait he got his money back but if he's still suing maybe there's something we don't know maybe he is right because why would he sue if he's not right right but everybody loves sonya she's always had a spectacular reputation and she gave him a refund so maybe she's not in the wrong and he's just a sue happy weirdo.
8:05So like I said in the beginning very entertaining neighborly gossip but once the passive aggressiveness between the two neighbors ran so high that even their own children were impacted or the neighbors would feel this like unspoken tension whenever they walked past the two houses now it was getting just way too much for everyone to handle. anytime that you took a neighborhood walk if you saw janelle if you saw sonia or her son frank okay so son um sonia's son frank is 25 years old he's very close with his mom and by default he very much hates janelle and vice versa now it's customary that these neighbors on their walk they would duck their head and just walk past as fast as possible it's just so awkward and uncomfortable you know that was most days but there were a few incidents where they would have to step in and try to diffuse situations like when things would get heated between the two families one time it happened because joelle's daughter let's call her janelle's daughter let's call her ellie is this the 13 year old yeah so her real name is out there i'm not going to use it we'll call her ellie she was playing with sonia's grandkids and the kids you know they're teasing ellie it wasn't the nicest thing to do but i don't think they were physical i don't think they were like viciously verbally bullying this girl.
9:26I think that they were learning. Like I really am never that person that says, oh, they're kids, right? Because I don't believe in that. But I think it was a genuine instance of their kids and they're learning how to tease each other. They're learning boundaries. It's an experimental phase. And I do think that they were kind of teasing Ellie without this vicious, malicious intent to hurt her. But Janelle sees this and he gets angry makes sense okay i'm sure a lot of parents would feel that way he could have just walked over to these tiny little children and explained like hey this is not something you do when you hang out with people especially not with my daughter like i'm not gonna be okay with it you got it how old are like 10 oh seven eight you know they're young yeah but instead he stomps out the front porch a face red with anger and he's screaming why are you bullying my daughter behave yourself or I will show you how demonic I can be.
10:25Sonia was so angered by the whole thing and she's not saying, no, my kids can never do no wrong. My kids didn't do that. My kids are angels. That's not what she's saying. She's saying that's not how adults speak to children. That is unacceptable. And it's well known and crystal clear that Janelle hates me and my whole family, like Sonia and her whole family almost ran over one of the kids and he lives in such close proximity, Sonia feels like she has to stand her ground so that her kids can feel safe in this neighborhood. She files a formal complaint. And since then, we have reached a territory of no going back.
11:01I think a lot of interpersonal relationships are like this. And I mean, what do I know? I feel like I'm learning things every day, right? But there's, I feel like there's always a point of no return. And it's not even just, oh, you know what? This person is so toxic, there's no point of return. I think there's always a spot where both parties have gone so far, neither one can turn around. There's no U-turn anymore. It's almost become part of like your life, your character, your whole life story is like, oh, this is my nemesis. It's almost like a thing, you know? And now even going back or deescalating the situation, it feels like you're losing.
11:36It's like telling the other party, okay, you're right. Maybe I'm wrong. It's kind of like an ego thing more than anything now. The only problem is one of the parties involved was willing to kill to protect their ego. The week before Christmas, there was a massive boom echoing through the neighborhood. All the neighbors are like, what was that? The neighbors who heard the loud noise, they went silent. You know, their eyes are wide. They're like straining their ears to see if maybe I can hear some sort of scream or something. Some of them even went to investigate and they heard laughter. Okay, so they're like, I see what's going on.
12:16They saw on Sonia's front lawn, her son Frank and a few other family members were just having a good time playing with a boga. I'm not Filipino and I've never heard of a boga, but our Filipino researcher was explaining it's kind of like a homemade cannon. That sounds dangerous. That sounds like a weapon. That sounds like a bomb threat or something. No, it's not. Okay, so technically they're illegal. Technically they are, but they're pretty common in the Philippines And it's very similar to like a homemade firework, but not as scary. Okay, let me try to explain it because I feel like I'm explaining it and it sounds very serious.
12:49You take a bamboo stick or a tin can, very long one, anything that has like a long barrel shape. You take it, it's open on both sides. These are not instructions, by the way. I'm not giving you DIY guides right now. But many people will put a plastic water bottle or something on the other end. they'll spray some alcohol inside or some paint thinner the point is to blow open the water bottle's plastic cap and create like this boom noise so once you spray in the alcohol or the paint thinner you i think you light a small fire near and then it lets out a big boom right so this is why it's illegal it's not illegal because people were using it as weapons the most people would have it at home and they would use it as like a pastime they would have fun with it it's It's almost like how people do fireworks at home.
13:38Technically, there's a million ways you could kill yourself with a homemade firework or an at-home firework show. So that's why they banned it. They're like, no, we cannot have this anymore. But the end result is not to hurt anyone. It is not a weapon. It's not pointed at people. It's pointed up into the sky. And ultimately, all you're trying to get out of this, and this is kind of important, is you're trying to make a loud boom noise. The person who makes the loudest boom noise is usually like, uh-huh, I won, right? Keep that in mind.
14:12So neighbors, they stick their little heads out. Okay, Sonia's kids, they're all adults at this point. They're playing with the bokeh. Whatever, not a big deal. And Frank is a responsible guy. Like, he's known in the neighborhood as being this very, very put-together son. He's 25. He's got a wife and a newborn. but they live a few hours away. The only reason that he's even staying at his mom's house was because there was more work in this town. So he would come here during the work weeks, work his ass off. I mean, this man was known to never turn down a job. He did construction. He did honestly anything that made any sort of money.
14:50And at the end of the week, he would drive home for one or two days max, just practically drop any and all money that he made, all the cash he earned, and drive all the way back to start the new work week. It was kind of bittersweet for Frank. I mean, on one hand, he had to be away from his child. And then on the other hand, this is the only way that his wife could stay at home and not work and just be with the kid. So he never complained. He was not one of those people that felt like, I'm doing a sacrifice for my family. He was really well-loved. So that particular night, it's Sunday, and Frank is getting ready for this very long work week ahead of him.
15:28It's five days of just breaking his back in the brutal sun. I know I said a week before Christmas, but it's the Philippines. It's still going to be very hot. He and his family decide, let's just let loose, you know? And I mean that very lightly. They decide. This is their version of let loose. They're going to bring plastic chairs to the front lawn, sit under the shade of a big tree out front, pop open a few beers. It's not even a ton of friends. It's like cousins came over. They're just going to goof around. and it was at this moment, one of the cousins asked Frank, hey, you got a boga? Frank's like, actually, I got multiple bogas.
16:07So he brings out a few and they start having this competition of who can make the loudest bang. And Frank was up first. He loads up the boga, shakes it up, points it towards the sky, presses the button, like releases it. Nothing happens. And his cousins are all cracking up. Like this guy thinks he's tough. This guy thinks he moves bricks and look at him. He can't even work a boga. And it was all in good fun. So Frank is like, okay, I gotta do it again. He shakes it up, shoots it up, and bang. And now, this is not like midnight. The sun is still out. And fine, yeah, I'm sure as a neighbor, it's not the most pleasant noise.
16:41But I will say, my tolerance for random loud noises in the neighborhood is the highest during weekends, during the day. It's like everyone's just letting off some steam before the work week. It's not like any kids are sleeping. Nobody is, you know, sitting there doing their homework all afternoon. but when Janelle heard that very first bang of the boga he's at home with his wife and younger daughter Ellie she's about 13 he freezes and he feels he feels like it's personal it's a deep-rooted anger that is seething out of his bones he knew it was a boga he doesn't think it's a gun. He doesn't think it's anything like that.
17:24He knew it was a boga. He knew it was Frank, Sonia's 25 year old son, but he felt like it was a message for him. They're telling him, oh yeah, we're going to be loud. And what are you going to do about it? They wanted him to hear it and they wanted him to try and do something about it. And if he didn't, they were just going to completely disrespect him. So Janelle marches out of his house. He slams open the front door so hard it like bounces back towards him and he stomps as loud as he can and with each step he's like building this rage he's hyping himself up you know how fucking dare they and he spots frank snatches the boga right out of his hands and frank's like what the hell are you doing what are you doing don't you know this is illegal i'm confiscating this frank tries to de-escalate the situation initially janelle there's no need to be this angry please stop being so aggressive.
18:16We were just trying to have fun, but if you don't like the noise, I can stop. Janelle looks around at Frank's family and friends, and they're all staring at him like he's some sort of crazy power tripping guy. And ultimately, that was humiliating. It's insulting. And what does a wounded ego do? A humiliated ego strikes back. Janelle leans back and punches Frank square in the face. And Janelle is a pretty big dude. I would say he might be pushing 200 pounds. Frank is pretty small. Now, you know how in the MMA fights, the fighters have these very intense staring matches. Their faces are inches apart from each other.
19:00They're staring into each other's eyes. I thought it was goofy. I thought it was all for like photo ops and the press conference and to get more views. But there is psychology there. A lot of the MMA fighters said, you know, I too thought it was goofy, but you actually learn a lot about your opponent just by staring into their eyes. It's an opportunity to see if, are they really confident? Is there even a moment where their eye, they waver? Or maybe a slight second where you can almost see like doubt or fear flash before their eyes. When you're only focused on their eyes, you can see it. You can see a person's soul.
19:37That's what they said. The first person to look away is the automatic de facto loser, the submissive one. And that's what it felt like on this front lawn. It was like an MMA stare down. Janelle punched Frank in the face and now they're almost scary still staring into each other's eyes, daring each other to do something. Janelle and Frank. Yeah. Frank's cousins are jumping up trying to create distance between Janelle and Frank before it escalates even further. Neighbors are rushing out hearing the commotion because, you know, when Janelle punched Frank, people are screaming. There's a whole, there's chaos.
20:11and not a single person. Because if you watch the video, it looks like something's going to happen. It doesn't look to me like this situation is going to naturally de-escalate on its own. But not a single person in the crowd, not a single cousin or neighbor, nobody called the cops. Nobody even said, someone call the cops, someone call the police. Because Janelle was the police. Janelle is a police officer. He's a cop. Oh my god. He also had his police-issued gun and handcuffs on him, and he was going to make use of his power to make Sonia's son, Frank, submit to him. You are under arrest, Frank.
20:55Frank stood his ground. Well, that's why Frank didn't strike back. No. Oh my gosh. Frank stood his ground. This is all unfair. You know, Frank is a little tipsy. Fine, that's not illegal. Okay, he's on his own private property. He's not out there drinking. He was of drinking age and sure, using the boga was illegal, but it's a few loud bangs. Nothing, absolutely nothing warranted an arrest. Even if someone had called the cops on Frank for using a boga, they would have confiscated the bogas and given him a firm warning. That would be that. But Janelle is now physically grabbing Frank to throw him onto the ground, handcuff him, drag him to the patrol car and arrest him.
21:33He's like, I'm going to bring you into the police station. all of frank's family including sonia his 45 year old 50 year old mother jumps in trying to defuse the situation and frank is shouting you think just because you're a police officer you can do this i think frank was just fed up at this point you know he had seen his mom go through all of these struggles with janelle and this is the last straw you can't just keep doing this dude yeah one of frank's cousins even put his hand on frank's mouth to try and focus on defusing the situation. Frank's family genuinely is just in this mode of diffuse, diffuse, diffuse, diffuse.
22:10Doesn't matter. Diffuse, diffuse, diffuse. Janelle, calm down. Please just let Frank go. Like, we can talk about this rationally. There's no need to involve the police. We'll never use the again. Janelle looked around and he only started pulling Frank harder. And I wonder if there's some psychology to this because as people are pleading with him, it's almost now it's kind of fueling his ego. Look, I have the power and I can do whatever I want. Even when people are begging with me, I'm not weak. I can still do what I want. Sonia literally throws herself on Frank's body to shield him from Janelle.
22:43And she's screaming, what are you doing? Just stop it. Get your hands off my son. This was the point of no going back. Not because of Sonia's words, but Janelle was now too far into his power trip. If he let go now, he would be submitting. He would be putting on a show for these people. He would have been bluffing. And just one glance, he could see all the neighbors had come out and they're all watching. This would be public humiliation, which for some men is the scariest thing of their lives. Not murder or being essayed, but rather being publicly humiliated, which don't get me wrong. No one wants to be publicly humiliated, right?
23:22I'm sure it's very traumatic but to him he'd rather die janelle is digging his feet in the sand figuratively right and he keeps pulling on frank frank's sister tasha rushes in and latches on to frank janelle physically shoves her off to the point where she falls onto the ground she's dizzy and when she looks up all the neighbors have gathered creating almost this human circle around them but they're all scared. They don't know what to do. I mean, what do we do? Call the police? Janelle is the police. Like, what do we do? Tasha looks at them and screams, take out your phones and start recording him.
23:57Record him. Janelle hears that and stares directly into Tasha's soul. He was pissed. Tasha's like, I'm not going to flinch. She challenged him. She squared up her shoulder, stared right back into his eyes and says, you don't have any right to arrest my brother. What are you talking about? Yeah, I do. Of course I do. Janelle truly believed because he was a police officer, he could arrest anyone at any time for any reason. Frank starts cursing at Janelle. Janelle is clearly abusing his power, and someone needed to voice that. This family had lived in the shadow of Janelle's anger and power trip for long enough.
24:41Janelle's wife and daughter eventually made their way out, which I genuinely thought, okay, this is the moment. Janelle has, even if he doesn't care for his family, which I feel like he doesn't because of his actions, but even if he doesn't care for his family, this is an out for his ego. This is a way for him to be like, you know what? I'm a better father than I am an egotistical person. And that would again, make him feel superior. So this is an easy way for Janelle to say, you know what? I'm going to calm down. I'm going to walk away with my 13 year old daughter. You're lucky my daughter came out.
25:15but he doesn't. Not at all. Ellie, that little girl, pulls out her phone and holds it in front of herself like a shield and she's recording. She starts getting closer and closer to Frank and Sonia and Frank notices. He asks almost in this kind of shocked, like, ridiculous way. Your dad's the one who's in the wrong here, but you're filming me? Unbelievable. The little girl ignores him and starts yelling at Sonia, the mom, Someone who is 40 plus years her senior. Starts screaming at her, shut it, shut it, just let it go. Ellie is 13. She's old enough to know what's going on, but I don't think that she was able to understand the implications of what's about to happen next.
25:58She does get a lot of hate for her role in all of this, but it's important again to remember, this is a 13-year-old girl who is watching her dad get into a fight. She's probably scared. She probably thinks being aggressive to save her father is the right thing to do. and since her father was a policeman and he seems like the type to brainwash everyone that like I'm the authority, I'm the law, I'm the person that enforces the law and everyone against me is a criminal. It could be very likely that she thought whoever was fighting her dad was automatically the bad guy. But I will say it's not a good look.
26:34Ellie starts pulling Sonia's hair and slapping her hands trying to get Sonia to let go of Frank so that her dad can take Frank to the police station. Sonia tries to very briefly reason with this little girl Because just imagine how chaotic it is And she says you should be telling that to your dad Not us This is our property This is my house Janelle does briefly try to push Ellie back towards her mom But she doesn't move She stands her ground and proudly says My father is a policeman Sonia looks at this little girl There is not enough time in the world Especially not right now to tell her that this policeman, your daddy, is not a good one.
27:15He's abusing his power. We did nothing wrong. You can't grow up just blindly following a uniform because some of them are very corrupt. How do you tell a 13-year-old girl that your dad is corrupt and is the evil one right now? But what do you do? Ignore her? I mean, what do you do? So Sonia just sighed and tried to lessen the tension. I believe she tried to lessen the tension because Sonia's whole MO this whole time has been diffusing the situation. She hasn't been provoking anyone. She hasn't been yelling curse words. She's been trying to just get her son out of the situation as safely as possible.
Read the full transcript
27:50She says in response to, my father is a policeman. She sings to anyone's, I don't care. I mean, she's saying it because this little girl is physically abusing her and keeps saying some ridiculous things without knowing any better. But Janelle, he heard that tune. he turned and maybe he saw something we didn't. I don't think it matters what he saw if there was even anything to see, but maybe he saw his ego flash right before his eyes. Maybe he saw his daughter look at him like, what now, dad? Or maybe he just saw red. I don't know. But he looks at Sonia and screams, you son of a bitch, do you want me to end your life right here and now?
28:33Before anyone can respond, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out his gun and fires. Sonia loses her balance but she's still holding on to Frank and before the first shot is even finished ringing in Frank's ears Janelle pulls the trigger again and this time it hits Frank square in the chest. Both Frank and his mom topple over and they're almost laying lifeless instantly just laying on their front lawn not moving but Janelle wasn't done in front of his wife and his daughter in a situation that even when they were alive there was no danger to janelle's life janelle takes a step forward and shoots sonia's body again and so up until this point in the video it's you know it's eerie because you hear chaos you hear people trying to defuse you hear neighbors and everything just goes silent just silent the neighbors passerbys they're like frozen in shock frank's family they don't even move they're they're still trying to process what just happened their brain hadn't caught up with their eyes all they could see was sonia and frank laying on the ground but there's no way they're dead right right they must be scared yes nobody's running away right now there's like an eerie silence and then the spell breaks everybody starts making a run for it janelle is no longer human he's the devil he's no longer reasonable he's a killer he's no longer a cop he is a murderer who's to say that he's not just going to turn around and take out the whole neighborhood in this power struggle so most of the neighbors are running away but a few run against the crowd and run towards sonia and Frank.
30:24The families? Yeah, to check on them. They try and stop the bleeding while they called for help, but it was too late. Both Sonia and Frank were dead. The rest of Sonia's family had just witnessed their family members getting brutally killed in front of them just days before Christmas. And once they realized that their loved ones could not be safe, they turn around to face Janelle, but he's gone. He used the chaos to escape but you can't escape the internet. The neighbors who were recording started posting the videos online. There are several videos of the incident so there is no doubt that Janelle killed Frank and Sonia.
31:04That's not even really debatable. The videos would go absolutely viral in the Philippines just because of how graphic, just the severity of the situation. Janelle started feeling the pressure of being one of the most hated men in the Philippines, being probably the top fugitive at the time in the Philippines. He ran off right after the shooting, tries to run to his hometown, but ultimately ends up turning himself in. It's actually speculated that this guy thought if he turned himself in, the police would go easy on him because he's one of their own. Side note, sources also state that Janelle's brother worked as an officer in his hometown.
31:42So he specifically turned himself in there in hopes of getting some sort of special treatment, which didn't work. He was taken into custody and Tarlac, the city where the crime happened, Tarlac officers came to get him. They tested his hands for gun powder residue, which obviously tested positive. He was arrested. Now, when someone is arrested, it is pretty standard to do a background check on them. And not only was Janelle the world's worst cop but he was a criminal when this came out to the public netizens were confused furious all of the above even before this crime janelle had an extensive criminal history which i don't even know how he's still a police officer at this point but he was charged with homicide just a year prior in 2019.
32:32As a cop? As a cop. Sonia and Frank were murdered in 2020. He was charged with homicide in 2019. But for the 2019 case, there wasn't enough evidence. So the case was just dismissed. Seven months later, again, this is before Sonia and Frank's case, he was charged again with homicide. But this time the case was also dismissed. There's not a ton of detail on exactly what happened both times. But we do know that he was charged with murder on two separate occasions before Frank and Sonia's murder. All the charges were dismissed because there wasn't enough evidence. That doesn't necessarily mean that there was no evidence or that it didn't happen.
33:10Just not enough evidence made it to the right people's hands. Just not enough people who recorded it. Exactly. Outside of Janelle's criminal record, he doesn't even have the best track record at work either. In 2014, he was briefly suspended for an entire month from the force because he refused to take a mandatory drug test, which, you know, the only reason you refuse to take a drug test typically is because you did drugs. Like I truly have no idea how this man was still a police officer in 2020. Janelle clearly knew the video was posted. He knew almost everyone in the Philippines knew about what he did, but he still pled not guilty.
33:51There was so much pressure on the government. the entire judicial process was sped up because of it the court found him guilty of two counts of murder meaning he would spend anywhere between 20 to 40 years in prison which honestly is not that long for what he did but he will end up dead so we'll get to it now i will say the next target for a lot of netizens was ellie people ripped apart ellie for the video that you know she's saying my father's a policeman i think her attitude her demeanor throughout the video is can come off a bit entitled spoiled maybe bratty my dad's a cop so you can't touch me and a lot of netizens believe that this comment is what caused the murders had she not said that maybe sonia and frank would not be dead so she was ripped apart online now if i had to play devil's advocate right i feel like ellie said this because in her mind her dad is a policeman and policemen always follow the laws.
34:52She's 13. She probably doesn't know that policemen can be corrupt. If he's doing this, she probably thinks there is a good reason that she's doing this. These people are probably criminals and she doesn't understand why Sonia isn't letting her dad do his job. And maybe even her demeanor could be explained by, you know, when you're 13, you're scared. You try to act extra aggressive. You're like putting up this front. Also, I kind of feel bad in the sense that let's say she was under the impression that her dad was a good police officer. If you see your dad kill two people, clearly not in self-defense, I think that would just shatter your whole reality.
35:32I think your whole father figure would be destroyed. You would question a lot of your previous life moments, life lessons. I don't know. I would like to hope that she didn't realize that her dad was in the wrong and that she was just doing what she thought in her 13-year-old mind was appropriate at the time. I will say that smacking and yanking hair is never appropriate because Sonia was not even touching her dad. Yeah, Sonia was not touching Janelle. So I don't know. Maybe she has lived the past two years with a lot of guilt. Maybe she hasn't. But I do hope for the sake of, I don't know, I guess her own future and how she deals with relationships with authority, I hope she learns that her dad was wrong and that's just not how it works.
36:18Now, another thing about Ellie before we move on. After the incident, a lot of Facebook pages started popping up using Ellie's pictures and names and these pages started posting some really crazy stuff. They were basically saying, I said what I said and I meant what I said, pretending to be Ellie. Wow. And I think that's why a lot of the Philippines really hated Ellie, not just for the video, because I think if they just see the video, they can kind of try to somewhat reason with Ellie since she is 13. but these Facebook pages, so many of them came up. So many of them seem so realistic that people didn't even know.
36:52How do we know it's not hers? I don't believe any of them were actually Ellie's accounts but it did further add to all the hate that Ellie got. People started commenting some really vicious things like they deserve the death penalty. Even the daughter, she's got no manners. The daughter of the police looks bitchy and arrogant. She even looked at the mother and son in a very disrespectful manner. How could they even face their neighbors after what they've done? You should have stopped your dad and asked him to bring you home, but instead you fueled the fire even more. Your father is a criminal and you're a spoiled little brat who knows how to speak English but doesn't know manners.
37:26Someone even wrote, Honestly, you're the reason why your dad's rotting in jail. For God's sake, why did you have to get yourself involved in an altercation amongst adults? Yeah, it was brutal. The situation got so bad that Ali had to go to therapy. A human rights group in the Philippines had to step in to remind everyone, hey, you guys know that you're cyberbullying a 13-year-old, right? The Gregorio family, Sonia and Frank's family, they held a funeral for Frank and Sonia four days after Christmas. Hundreds of locals showed up to pay their respects. Sonia's mother was 94. And I think, you know, it's when someone's 94, I think everyone in the family starts kind of preparing themselves, maybe not saying it out loud, but like, how do you say that in English?
38:11It's like preparing your heart for grief to come eventually. You know, she's 94. It's the process of life. It's the cycle of life, right? I think everyone in the family knew that, you know, one day I'm going to have to say goodbye to grandma. But I don't think anyone would have predicted that on the same day, 94-year-old grandma would have to bury not only her daughter, but her grandson. That's a lot of heartbreak for a 94-year-old woman. Frank's wife and young child were there. Frank's baby was just one years old, so they had no idea what was going on. But this would be something that they would have to learn about later in life, and it would be very difficult.
38:50And side note, Frank's wife was a few hours away when Frank died, remember? And she said that she absolutely refused to believe that Frank was dead. It just didn't make any sense. She had to physically bring herself to watch the video so that her brain could comprehend the message because her brain was not getting it. And her brain was like, everyone is just losing their minds. Everyone's lying. It's a joke. Or there's a glitch in the universe and he's going to be back. He's going to be back home this weekend. And it almost took her to traumatize herself to watch that video to finally be like, okay, he's gone.
39:23He's not coming home. While the family were busy with the funeral, supporters were marching down the streets shouting for justice for Frank and Sonia. They grabbed megaphones. They demanded police reform. systematic changes. There was a little war going on in the Philippines at the time of Sonia and Frank's death. A war between the police and the citizens. So it's not like Frank and Sonia's was even a one-off case. Oh, like the police. Okay. And I'm going to tell you what's going on. So being an American, we are all way too familiar with police brutality. So obviously this is not just an issue that's in the Philippines.
39:59It's a global problem, it seems. But there are some unique circumstances to this case. In the Philippines, in 2016, President Rodrigo de Tuerte made, he was like, I'm going to crack down on illegal drugs. That is my whole campaign. Back then, illegal drug abuse was really prevalent in the Philippines. Numbers are not that easy to come by, for obvious reasons, but the US Congress did an international narcotics report in 2010, and they estimated that the illegal drug trade was bringing in between six to eight billion dollars in the Philippines per year. Addiction had practically touched every major city.
40:37I mean, everyone knew what was going on. So when Rodrigo ran for president, he promised to change everything. I'm just going to tell you some of the quotes that he's the most famous for because I think that's the best way to get his campaign. I will repeat what I have said before. If you destroy my country and you destroy the young people by feeding them with drugs, you destroy the future. if you destroy the country i will kill you i'll dump all of you into manila bay and fatten the fish up just so we're all clear and the context is given he's saying that he will kill all drug dealers and dump them into the bay he also somehow tried to reference hitler multiple times in his campaigns in his uh war on drugs campaign which is he was quite literally promising to kill Filipino drug addicts.
41:23Just something to remember. Drug addicts are not dirty criminals who sprout out of the ground to just wreak havoc and destroy communities. I mean, these are brothers, mothers, students, neighbors. I shouldn't have to say this, but drug addicts are people. They're not the problem. They have an addiction and that addiction is an issue, but the people themselves are not the problem and you can't just get rid of them. So I don't understand why he thought that threatening to kill his own countrymen would win him the presidency. But the crazy thing is it did win him the presidency. He did win the presidential election and he didn't even stop there either.
42:03He kept going on about how much he hates drug users. And like, trust me, I'm not like, I'm not sitting here, guys do drugs. But what's going on here? He would even say things like, do the lives of these criminals really matter? If I am the one facing all the grief, would a hundred lives of these idiots mean anything to me? Rodrigo said that he would even kill his own children if they turned into drug users. Side note, just to give you an idea of this man, there was another time in his presidency where the Philippines and China were fighting about who would control the South China Sea. Rodrigo's advisors told him, hey, you know what, if you're going to go up against China, it would be politically politically astute of you to become friendlier with the u.s because you don't want to go up against china alone right it's not your war he was supposed to meet with obama to talk about it but right before meeting up with obama rodrigo publicly called obama and i quote a son of a whore publicly what yeah for what reason so the reporters were like uh what if obama asks you about your human rights violations because even the UN is looking into you because, you know, you're killing a bunch of people just because you see them do a little bit of drugs.
43:18So what are you going to say to that? And he's like, I'm going to say you're a son of a whore. Obama heard it. He canceled the meeting altogether, stating that he would rather, quote, engage in constructive, productive conversations. Also, the Pope visited the Philippines. He also called the Pope the son of a whore. because he was causing a traffic jam is he just like says whatever on his mind yeah filter i guess maybe that was his appeal maybe i don't know but i would say definitely calling the pope a son of a is um like crossing so many i'm not even religious but it feels like we're crossing a lot of boundaries and it's a lot that's very very a lot right now the reason that people were upset and marching down the streets was because Rodrigo's attempt to end drug usage, he basically told the police force of the Philippines to go at it, have at it, have a good time, play Call of Duty on the streets.
44:18It's basically Valorant, free for all, the purge. He said, you see drugs? Shoot. Shoot and kill on sight. A little baggie of weed? Shoot and kill on sight. No freaking way. And ever since then, the number of drug-related police killings skyrocketed. The estimated death toll of drug-related police violence during Rodrigo's presidency is over 6 ,000 people. But then what happens? What happens when you give people that level of power? It's no longer about drugs anymore. Police officers got way too comfortable. It seemed like they just started killing whenever they felt like it and then planting a little baggie of drugs.
45:00and nothing would be investigated. Nothing would be looked into. Nothing would be inappropriate. Those were their orders. Drugs, shoot to kill. They were caught multiple times. So there was one big case where three officers killed a young man stating that he pulled a gun out on them and he had a baggie of drugs in his pocket. That turned out to be false. There was a tiny little camera in an alleyway that saw them drag him into the alleyway, shoot him dead, and then plant the stuff. they were just killing in cold blood. Yeah, not that drugs are a good reason to kill someone, but you get what I'm saying.
45:38So a lot of people argued, this is giving power-tripping, egotistical, evil people like Janelle the go-ahead to feel like they rule the streets, to feel like there's some sort of God above all. So yeah, people had enough. In another angering turn of events, there were rumors that Janelle had benefits while in prison. They said that his status as a former officer didn't actually put a target on his back like a lot of people were hoping. It actually made his life easier. People alleged that he was given a phone with full internet access. He got haircuts in jail, received outside food, and even got a special cell, which I'm assuming is better than a normal cell.
46:16They stated that he was living with respect and dignity while he ruined an entire family. Netizens were rightfully upset about that. The Bureau of Jail Management had to come out and say, that's not what we're doing. and for like a whole year, it was kind of an argument until November 30th, 2021, Janelle's cellmates were carrying an unconscious body into the jail hospital.
46:44Janelle was already dead when he was carried in. The cellmate stated, well, Janelle was complaining about being dizzy and being out of breath the whole day. While we were all walking back to our cell together, he collapsed and lost consciousness. We don't know what happened. Initial reports state that Janelle died of a heart attack, but there are rumors, the main one being, netizens believe that Janelle was killed by other jailmates because he was being favored. And it's kind of pissing them off. And since he was killed for that, the Bureau of Jail Management would have to cover it up and just state that he died of a heart attack because then it'd be like, now we have to explain why the jailmates or the cellmates were jealous of him.
47:20Yeah. So there was even a brief conspiracy that Janelle wasn't actually dead. that there were just photos of him taken as he was dead, and he had escaped prison with the help of all of his other police officer friends, and he was probably living off the grid or living in a different country. Now, I don't know about this one. Normally, I don't like to entertain like, oh, they're not actually dead conspiracies because I feel like it could be detrimental, but I will say this one, I mean, I don't put it past these people, right? But it does seem that he is dead. The only reason I bring it up is Sonia and Frank's family briefly brought up that idea that they didn't think that he was genuinely dead.
48:03Ultimately, it does seem that the body in the morgue is Janelle's. Sonia's children have stated, it's just really hard. Like everything's really hard. Sonia was just, she was a mom. I know that sounds so cliche because yes, so many people are moms. But she was a mom in the way that you think of like a textbook mom. You would come home from work. Doesn't matter if you're her kid that's 26. Doesn't matter if you're her grandson that's five. She would have this plate of hot steaming food waiting for you and she would sit there at the dinner table. Doesn't matter what time. She already ate dinner.
48:40She's just watching you eat. How's your day? Like, tell me everything. All of Sonia's neighbors mourned her death. They said, this woman loved feeding people. They said, they're not a rich family. they're not doing well sometimes you could tell that sonia didn't even have enough to eat but if you ever walked by that house even looking a little hungry if you stopped by to drop off something and your stomach grumbled even a little bit she would force you to sit down and she would make you feel stuffed even when she was hungry everyone in the neighborhood called her mama sonia but even through all the pain that this family has gone through, they came out to say they forgave Janelle.
49:24They said, we hope this serves as a lesson, you know, that helps him realize that being a police does not equate to superiority. No one is above the law. We've forgiven him. That doesn't mean that the pain isn't there. The pain is still there. We lost a mother. We lost a brother, just like that. For him, he's still alive. Well, he was. And he gets to see his family during visitations, but we don't. For us, we lost everything. But we've forgiven him. We've forgiven him because there is justice and he will pay for it and he will pay for it in the eyes of the Lord. So we are choosing to let go of that anger.
50:03But of course, we still condemn any and all actions, even remotely close to this. That is the story of the Tarlac shootings in the Philippines. what are your thoughts i i think just the song it's all of it is just a mixture of makes me feel so i don't know it's like heavy please leave it in the comments and please be safe i will see you guys on sunday for the mini-sode bye
From the publisher
The mob was forming outside the 13 year old’s house. They were there day and night screaming her name, cursing, and some just silently crying. She was the most hated person in the Philippines right now.
A video was circulating of the little girl pulling the hair of a woman moments before her murder. She asked the woman - “do you know who my dad is?”
Her dad was a killer and he was about to commit a double homicide right in front of his teenage daughter.
Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com
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