Tondo precinct cops face torture raps

MANILA, Philippines - Criminal charges were filed yesterday at the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the chief of a Manila police precinct caught on video torturing an arrested robbery suspect.

Senior Inspector Joselito Binayug, chief of the Asuncion police community precinct in Tondo, was charged with violation of the newly passed Republic Act 9745, or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009, along with two superiors and six subordinates in a complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-National Capital Region Police Office (PNP-NCRPO) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Binayug was named as the primary suspect in the torture of Darius Evangelista, an alleged robbery suspect who was the torture victim.

The torture video, leaked to the media and shown on television last week, showed a police officer in civilian clothes whipping and cursing the suspect and pulling on a rope that was tied to the victim’s genitals. The incident allegedly happened inside the Asuncion police precinct in Tondo.

The alleged torture was caught on video from a cell phone.

Two other police officials identified as Superintendent Ernesto Tendero Jr., station commander of Manila police station 2, and Superintendent Rogelio Torrelino Jr., chief of police station 11, were also implicated in the crime under command responsibility.

Tendero has jurisdiction over the Asuncion precinct and is the direct supervisor of Binayug. Torrelino was also accused after initial investigation showed that the victim was first brought to his station where the latter was also possibly tortured.

Senior Police Officer 3 Joaquin de Guzman, SPO1 Rodolfo Ong, SPO1 Burt Tupas, SPO1 Dante Bautista, PO1 Nonito Binayug and PO1 Rex Binayug, who reportedly witnessed the torture inside the Asuncion precinct last March 5, were also charged.

Chief Supt. Roberto Rongavilla, NCRPO deputy regional director for administration who headed a special task force created to investigate the torture incident, told reporters at the DOJ that their investigation showed a case of “maltreatment of a robbery suspect.”

Investigators said three other robbery suspects said Binayug and the other police officers tortured Evangelista. The accused policemen are now under the custody of the CIDG.

“Darius (Evangelista) was identified by his wife, relatives, and other witnesses through the video. Binayug was identified (as the suspect who was beating the victim) by witnesses,” he revealed.

He added that the complaint was also based on testimonies of witnesses.

He said all nine respondents, along with two others whom he did not identify, have been put on restrictive suspension. They were subjected to neuropsychiatry and drug tests at the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Rongavilla said that Evangelista is still missing as of yesterday.

He explained that the wife of the victim went to a funeral parlor near the Asuncion precinct last March 30 and tried to claim a body, which was not released to her because she could not provide proof that the deceased was her husband.

It was also found that the body was already in an advanced stage of decomposition and had been buried last Aug. 5.

Police said the skull and bones would be subjected to forensic investigation.

The police official also explained that they would file separate charges of murder against Binayug and his men if the body of Evangelista is found and if it would be proven that he died as a result of the torture.

Binayug and the 10 other members of the Asuncion precinct were disarmed and relieved after the video was aired by ABS-CBN.

Superintendent Matthew Perlas Baccay, head of the NCRPO’s regional investigation and detective management (RIDM), claimed they were able to identify Evangelista based on his age, when the video was taken and the testimony of his wife, Margie alias Ana, who is presently under the protective custody of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

Baccay admitted that the filing of charges against Binayug and the other suspects was based on the testimonies of Mrs. Evangelista and the three witnesses – Renato Peralta, 30; Emmanuel Miranda, 37, and Sonny Lim, 29.

There is no record of the arrest of Evangelista in the police blotters of station 11 and 2, said Baccay.

Probers said Binayug and his men arrested Evangelista at noon last March 5 in Tondo for alleged robbery.

The victim was brought to station 11 in Binondo where Rosales was station commander, and the robbery suspect was detained along with Peralta, Miranda and Lim.

While at station 11, the witnesses claimed that Binayug had started torturing Evangelista, before leaving the station hours later.

Binayug returned at midnight, took custody of Evangelista and brought him to the Asuncion precinct, where the torture video was taken.

When shown the torture video, Lim positively identified Binayug as the man wearing a white t-shirt, shorts and sandals, the same attire the police official was wearing when he fetched Evangelista from station 11.

Rongavilla said they were able to trace the three witnesses at the Manila City Jail after a review of the police blotter of station 11.

The CIDG took statements of the three detainees who are now key witnesses in the filing of charges against the accused policemen. With Non Alquitran