Lapu-Lapu policemen face raps

CEBU, Philippines - A news team of GMA Network Cebu filed administrative complaints against three officials of Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO) for their alleged failure to apprehend the Korean Nationals accused of manhandling the reporter and cameraman.

Accompanied by the program manager of GMA Cebu News and Public Affairs, Suzanne Salva-Alueta, Bexmae Jumao-as and Leofil Labastida filed complaints for serious neglect of duty and gross incompetence against the chief of the homicide section Senior Insp. Zenaido Pastorfide Jr., as well as SPO4 Edgar Alcantara Sagarino and PO2 Jacklord Pugoy.

Alueta said the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 advised them to file a formal complaint. She added that filing the complaint does not mean they are running after the police. They only want to seek redress over what happened, she added.

It was graft investigation and prosecution officer II Sarah Jo Vergara who subscribed the joint complaint-affidavit of Jumao-as and Labastida.

In their complaint, Jumao-as and Labastida said on February 11, 2013 they went to the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office to follow-up the report on a killing inside a motel involving Korean Hyun Chul Wang, the suspect.

While in the police station, they saw three Koreans in the receiving area of the office of Lapu-Lapu City Director, Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas.

Jumao-as said she then approached the Koreans and asked if they were relatives of Wang but they denied this.

After that, she said a certain John Lee of the Cebu Korean Association told them that they won't allow any interview and that the Korean Embassy will issue a statement on the incident.

She said while having a conversation with Lee, she directed Labastida to roll the video but the female Korean “reacted violently and demanded that the video be deleted.” She said she directed her cameraman to stop.

The complainants then went inside the office of Lawas to ask for an update but when they went out the office, Lee confronted her and demanded to see her mobile phone, accusing her of taking photos, which she denied.

Before they left the station, she said Labastida took an establishing shot outside the station when the Korean went out and was caught in the video.

“When the Korean nationals saw the complainant-affiant Labastida taking shots, all hell broke loose. The group angrily confronted us and viciously demanded that the video/recording be immediately deleted. We tried to explain that we only took shots of the building. However, despite our efforts to explain, the most elderly Korean lady of the group tried to grab the camera,” the complaint-affidavit reads.

The complainants said the three female Koreans dragged the camera to the headquarters. The Koreans also allegedly collared them.

“The Korean nationals eventually overwhelmed us and violently collared us and grabbed us by the necks while we tried to hang on to the camera,” the complaint reads.

They said Pugoy saw this and allegedly just watched. A picture was attached to the complaint as evidence.

While they were in the main entrance, the complainants said, they were shocked when another policeman in civilian clothes, who was later identified as Sagarino, grabbed the camera and brought it inside the homicide section.

Inside the homicide section, despite their protests not to touch the camera and in the presence of Pastorfide, Lee “took possession of the camera and operated it to see the videos.”

When Labastida asked the police officer what to do, the latter told him to “just erase (the video) to avoid trouble.”

Sensing that they cannot seek police protection they deleted the video and left the station.

Jumao-as and Labastida said they were just doing their jobs so they will pursue the case against the Koreans once they will get the names.

Alueta said they already had the incident recorded in the blotter but could not file a case because the police failed to give them the names of the Koreans.

Pastorfide denied the claim that he was around when the incident happened, saying he was at the Office of the City Director at that time.

“Dili lang una ko mutubag ana unya na lang as soon as makabasa ko sa complaint,” Pastorfide said in a phone interview. (I won't comment further, I'll wait for the complaint because I have not read it.)

Sagarino was surprised of the complaint. He said what was stated in the affidavit was different from what happened.

Sagarino is the City Executive Senior Police Officer (CESPO) of the LCPO and is authorized to conduct inspections in police offices.

“Ha? Ako na gani ang nagprotihir nila kay labnihon sa koreana ang camera unya ako pa ang na-filan?” Sagarino said in a phone interview. (Why am I the one facing a complaint when I was the one who protected their camera from being grabbed by the Korean?)

Sagarino also said it's not true he arrived in civilian clothes because he never wears civilian clothes when on duty. He could have been mistaken as another policeman, he said, and is willing to face investigation to clear his name. - /JPM (FREEMAN)