As probe of illegal arrest, extortion continues: Drug suspect arrested by Fuente cops indicted
The drug suspect arrested by four Fuente policemen for shabu possession was indicted yesterday at the City Prosecutor’s Office, while the investigation continued against the four arresting officers for allegedly extorting the suspect’s family.
The suspect, Noel Tortor, was also caught with a bladed weapon when arrested by the four Fuente policemen reportedly in barangay Pasil in the evening of October 28.
The arrest was however reported in the Fuente Police to have taken place at
The four who arrested Tortor were PO2 Bernabe Alegado, PO2 Tremaine Sotto, PO1 Cristopher Bacalso, and PO1 Emmanuel Victor Blones of the miscellaneous team of the Fuente Police station.
Even before Tortor was indicted, he had been accusing the four policemen of illegally arresting him and allegedly tried to extort P150,000 from his family in exchange for his freedom. When the family refused to give the amount, a case was then filed against him, he said.
These accusations however have no bases yet but Supt. Pablo Labra II, deputy chief for administration of the CCPO and commander of the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, vowed to conduct an investigation of this group of four policemen.
The Tortor family has not charged the policemen of anything yet despite willingness of some witnesses to testify about the arrest in Pasil.
The CIIB has been waiting for the affidavits of the witnesses, including that of Banat News associate editor John Rey Saavedra, who claimed he witnessed the arrest in Pasil where the suspect’s mother even asked him for help.
Labra had said that even if Tortor was in the police list of drug personalities, any arrest should be done by following the given procedure: Any police unit in anti-drug operations must coordinate with the task force and submit a pre-operation report to deter policemen from extorting the suspects they arrested.
Labra, as chief of the (task force), warned that should he find any irregularity in the arrest of Tortor, and other similar cases, he would make sure that the erring officers would be moved out of
Chief Inspector Henry Biñas, chief of the Fuente Police Station, said his office would cooperate with the investigation of his men because he would not tolerate wrongdoings of his men, even if court records showed Tortor’s involvement in some drug cases.
Biñas and his men have already submitted to Labra their explanation of Tortor’s arrest, adding that it would be best now for the court to decide on the outcome of the cases against them. “The fiscal have found probable cause sa kaso … ang korte nay mo-evaluate sa kaso,” the official said.
Biñas said this has been the second time that this group of four policemen was accused of irregularities by suspect themselves. He also said that these allegations might be a way to influence the prosecutor through the media.
However, Labra, said the Tortor allegation is the third time he heard about this group of policemen. “I will personally look into this kay duna naman guy mga susamang report … involving the same group nga mangadto sa laing areas of jurisdiction, manakop unya mao lagi na kuno mangwarta,” he said.
The same group of policemen was accused of a similar incident involving the arrest of two women from
Biñas clarified reports, in yesterday’s papers, about the commotion between him and the parties involved in the
Biñas said he only questioned why there were so many people present in the hearing and who were not really among the witnesses who signed the joint affidavits in favor of Amaro. Only five among the 30 people present in the hearing were signatories of the affidavits.
Biñas suspected that the crowd, he believed to be from
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