Aloguinsan Police chief arrested for alleged obstruction of justice

The OIC chief of Aloguinsan Police was arrested Saturday evening for allegedly harboring a criminal, obstruction of justice, and directly assaulting an authority.

The arresting team was composed of SPO1 Kenneth Abella, PO2 Zeusto Veloso, PO2 Artemio Tumakay III, and field trainee policewoman PO1 Shirley Bade-all members of the Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Branch.

According to a report of the operations branch of the Cebu Provincial Police, the PIIB personnel were in town to serve two arrest warrants against 24-year-old Rosalyn Dosdos but Aloguinsan Police head, Inspector Edgar Almaden, allegedly intervened.

Dosdos, a resident of Medellin who was stated in the report as a live-in partner of Almaden, has two arrest warrants that Municipal Trial Court judge Dante Manreal issued against her.

The first warrant was issued on December 19 last year for grave oral defamation case, and the second was last April 24 for grave threats.

The report stated that Almaden told the arresting policemen that he was the town police chief, and that allegedly he would not allow the arrest of Dosdos.

It took almost an hour of negotiation before Almaden yielded Dosdos but he accompanied the policemen in taking Dosdos to the PIIB headquarters where she is now detained.

The policemen, along with Almaden and Dosdos, rode on the privately owned car of Veloso but upon reaching barangay Bonbon of the town, Almaden allegedly turned unruly and even drew from his waist a Beretta .9mm pistol.

This prompted Veloso to pull his car over the road shoulder where the rest of the PIIB men had to disembark to resolve the tension. It took another 30 minutes of talks after Almaden alighted from the car with his firearm.

The PIIB policemen effected the arrest of Almaden, who they immediately apprised of his rights, and confiscated from him the pistol, and two magazines loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition.

Almaden was later taken, along with Dosdos, to the PIIB office for investigation pending the filing of criminal and administrative charges. A liquor test conducted on him later at the Cebu City Medical Center allegedly showed he was positive of alcohol.

Almaden told reporters yesterday that what he did was only to request the PIIB men to serve the warrants against Dosdos on Monday so that she would not be detained over the weekend and could post bail immediately.

He also denied that the aimed his gun at Veloso, saying he only pulled out his gun because he felt pain from his thigh, while sitting in the car, because he just tucked it in his waist without a holster. It was just a case of misunderstanding, he said.

Almaden said he would discuss the case with his superior but if a case will be filed against him, then he might as well face it.

CPPO director Vicente Loot, for his part, yesterday told The Freeman that Almaden was placed under technical arrest and subject to camp restrictions but he could still report to duty while under investigation.

The investigation of the Almaden case will be referred the Provincial Internal Affairs Service because the case involves also the PIIB, Loot said. - Norvie S. Misa/RAE