After indiscriminate firing: Policeman "punched, pointed gun" at man

CEBU, Philippines – Two siblings accused a policeman of firing indiscriminately, and then punched and pointed a gun at one of them yesterday afternoon in Ponce Dos, Barangay Carreta, Cebu City.

Mary Jane Sarnejo Basoy, 35 and her younger brother Nelson Sarnejo, 34, both residents of Carreta, went to the Waterfront Police Station yesterday to report one "Goyot" Bercero.

Sarnejo told the police that he was inside the house of his elder sister around 4 p.m. yesterday when he suddenly heard a burst of gunfire. This prompted him to run outside to check.

Once outside, he saw Bercero, whom he and Basoy identified as a policeman assigned at the Waterfront Police, holding a gun. Sarnejo immediately concluded that it was Bercero who fired the gun so he confronted the cop.

"Akong giingnan nga nganong nagpasalba man ka? Daghana ra bang bata diri, makaigo unya ka," Sarnejo said. (I asked him why he fired his gun, as there were many children around.)

The policeman, Sarnejo further alleged, punched him on the face and pointed the gun at him. He believed it was a caliber .45 pistol that the cop was holding.

Basoy went out of the house and, seeing the gun pointed at her brother, intervened. She then told Bercero that she would call the police.

"Ingon siya nga 'Nganong manawag man mo og pulis nga pulis man ko? Akong giingnan nga buang man ka nga pulis, manawag mi og lain," Basoy said. (He asked why we were calling the police, when he was a policeman. We told him we needed another.)

The suspect fled on foot and was no longer around when the responding policemen arrived. Basoy said Bercero is frequent in their barangay to visit a neighbor. She said they have seen him fire his gun indiscriminately several times now.

SPO3 Ernesto Caballero, duty desk officer of the police station, identified the suspect as PO1 Bercero who was assigned at their station some time last year when the latter was still undergoing the Field Training Program (FTP).

Caballero could not recall Bercero's first name, and he advised the victims to report the incident to the Regional Internal Affairs Service based at the Police Regional Office 7 in Camp Osmeña to verify the suspect's first name so sanctions could be imposed against the suspect. (FREEMAN)