Doctor who treated cop harassed?

Was the condition of SPO1 Celeste Agustin, the Manila policeman who was allegedly gunned down by his immediate superior, being monitored by interested parties even while being operated on?

This cropped up after a document furnished The STAR yesterday showed a doctor who operated on the dying Agustin filed a complaint with Western Police District (WPD) director Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon Jr. regarding the barging in of armed policemen in civilian clothes into the operating room while the operation was in progress.

In his letter to Razon dated March 16, Dr. Arellano So of the Department of Surgery of the Ospital ng Maynila related that it was the first time in the 30-year history of the hospital that "WPD policemen, under influence of liquor, entered the operating room with guns."

In a narrative of events in the letter, So said he tried to drive away the unruly and arrogant, policemen, but was ignored. Dr. So added, even the hospital's security guards were afraid to confront the armed policemen.

So also said the policemen were apparently looking for the gun of Agustin but they failed to find it. The policemen also kept on asking about the condition of Agustin.

The doctor's letter bolstered television news footage showing a policeman menacingly drawing two 9 mm pistols from his waist, making reporters and photographers scamper for safety.

Meanwhile, the WPD submitted its pre-charge administrative investigation report against Inspector Reynaldo "Boy" Chico, the alleged assailant of Agustin, to Chief Superintendent Efren Fernandez, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office's Regional Investigation and Intelligence Committee (NCRPO-RIIC).

"We waited for Chico to appear and submit his counter-affidavit but he failed to show up till past noon. We have no recourse but to submit the pre-charge report now," Senior Inspector Eufemio Espino told The STAR.

The elderly Chico will be summarily dismissed from the police service and lose all his retirement benefits if he is found to have acted arbitrarily in shooting Agustin. Chico maintained the shooting was accidental. He was subsequently charged with homicide, a bailable offense. -