Court orders release of man who was illegally arrested

The court yesterday ordered for the release of a man who was illegally arrested and detained by police for almost four years for allegedly violating the Dangerous Drugs Law.

Regional Trial Court Judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr. acquitted 31-year-old Rogelio Manalili, a resident of barangay Labangon, after finding out that the policemen who arrested him on the evening of September 28, 2002 had just mistaken him for the one who created trouble along Tres de Abril Street.

Policemen Eugenio Teves, Roy Trinidad and Eufemio Reyes Jr. had claimed that Manalili was arrested during a buy-bust operation conducted at the back of a school. But the accused presented several witnesses to contradict the policemen's charges.

According to the policemen, aside from the pack of shabu that was the subject of the buy-bust operation, two more packs of the illegal drug were recovered from Manalili's possession after his arrest.

But fruit vendor Angelie Reynes testified in favor of the accused that it was she who sought police assistance after a certain Junjun Salazar threatened her husband.

Manalili presented before the court the excerpt of the police blotter to prove that before he was arrested, Reynes went to the police station to ask for assistance.

Witnesses said Salazar had already escaped when the policemen responded and that Manalili was then arrested and brought to the police station.

Reynes even returned to the police station and told the policemen that the person they have arrested was not the subject of her complaint, but the policemen reportedly refused to release Manalili.

"The sincerity and straightforward narrations of several eyewitnesses and neighbors who presented themselves voluntarily, convinced the court that they were telling the truthful incident," ruled De Gracia.

The judge said it is not conceivable how a buy-bust operation could be undertaken when the policemen were just responding to a disorderly person alarm. - Rene U. Borromeo/LPM