FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
** Truth Commission: At 4th Truth-Telling Session, Mother Will Recount Her Son's Killing While on an Errand **
*** Lorna Carina Pepaño will describe the May 18, 2020, shooting of Christian A. Pepaño in Quezon City and her search for answers about who was responsible ***
MANILA, Oct. 7, 2026 — More than six years after Christian A. Pepaño was shot dead in Quezon City, his mother, Lorna Carina Pepaño, will give her account to the Truth Commission at its fourth Public Truth-Telling Session. The session will be held Friday, Oct. 9, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Co Po Ty Audio Visual Room at Adamson University in Manila.
“Nanay Lorna” will speak about the circumstances of her son's death and the questions her family still has about who was responsible. The commission will also present the medical and police records in the case. A news conference will follow.
An Errand for Coffee and Medicine
In a sworn statement to the Commission on Human Rights, Nanay Lorna said that at about 6 p.m. on May 18, 2020, she asked Christian, then 39, to buy coffee and medicine near their home in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City.
Soon after, a neighbor told her that Christian had been shot. She said she went to him and found him covered in blood. She described being overcome by grief and anger.
Nanay Lorna has said she did not see the shooting. Her account covers what happened before and after it.
An initial police report places the shooting at about 6:15 p.m. in front of Ben's Store in Barangay Holy Spirit. According to the report, two unidentified men on a motorcycle with no license plate carried out the attack and fled.
Questions About Mistaken Identity
In her statement, Nanay Lorna also recounted what people at the scene told her: that Christian may have been mistaken for someone else. She did not hear the attackers herself. What they reportedly said was relayed to her by others.
Police and medical records do not confirm that explanation. Who targeted Christian and why remain central questions for the family, as does what the investigation has found.
What the Medical Records Show
Christian's death certificate lists multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso and rules his death a homicide. A 2020 report by a Philippine National Police medical examiner describes four gunshot wounds: two to the head and two that entered the front right side of the chest.
His remains were exhumed from Bagbag Cemetery on Feb. 15, 2024, and later examined by Dr. Raquel B. del Rosario-Fortun, a forensic pathologist and a member of the commission. Her report, signed Oct. 2, 2026, found two entry wounds and two exit wounds in the skull consistent with gunshots. It also ruled the death a homicide.
The new examination adds detail about Christian's head wounds. But the report notes that the paths of the bullets cannot be traced from the bones alone. The medical findings show how Christian died. They do not identify the attackers or explain why he was killed.
A Mother's Search for Answers
Nanay Lorna first gave her account under oath on Feb. 2, 2021, to the National Capital Region office of the Commission on Human Rights. Friday's session will bring that account, and the records of her son's death, before a wider public.
The session is also meant to raise broader questions about how families learn what happened after a killing and what the agencies that investigate such deaths still need to explain.
The records available to the commission do not show the current status of any investigation or court case. The session will be a chance to ask what has been done since and what remains.
Remembering Christian
Nanay Lorna's testimony will also be about Christian's life and what his death took from those who knew him. In her sworn statement, she described a son who rarely went out and who had a heart condition. The errand she asked him to run was part of an ordinary evening that ended in his death.
For families who have lost someone to violence, speaking in public can be a way to remember the person who was killed and to explain what the loss has meant for those left behind. It can also be a way to press for answers that have not come.
Through its public truth-telling sessions, the Truth Commission brings the testimony of survivors and families into the public record alongside documents and forensic findings. Its aims range from justice and accountability to remembrance and healing.
For Journalists
The fourth Public Truth-Telling Session will be held Friday, Oct. 9, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Co Po Ty Audio Visual Room at Adamson University in Manila. A news conference will follow.
It will also be LIVESTREAMED on Facebook and YouTube.
Journalists are invited to cover Nanay Lorna's testimony and the news conference. Requests to interview her or other family members should go through the Truth Commission's media team. Interviews will depend on each person's consent and readiness to speak.
To attend or arrange an interview, contact:
Tessam Castillo media@truthcommission.ph
Jhecy Rebete info@truthcommission.ph
Truth Commission Website: www.truthcommission.ph Facebook: Truth Commission YouTube: Truth Commission X: @truthcommPH Instagram: @truthcommissionph TikTok: @truthcommissionph