40 nabbed in SPD’s 3-in-1 drive

The Police District (SPD) hit several birds with one stone yesterday.

Apart from assisting the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) in cutting 620 illegal electrical connections, they also apprehended 40 suspected criminals in homes along the railroad tracks of the Philippine National Railways (PNR).

Chief Superintendent Prospero Noble Jr., SPD director, said this was the first of the many surprise inspections they would be conducting in the district as part of their anti-criminality and public awareness campaign on fire hazards and water conservation. They would focus on heavily congested areas.

"Just like the advertisement slogan of one coffee brand, this is actually a three-in-one drive — fire prevention, water conservation and part of our anti-criminality campaign. We are trying to prevent fires which are often caused by faulty electrical wiring," said Noble.

However, they were unable to apprehend people engaged in illegal water connection.

As early as 5:30 a.m., some 1,000 policemen visited the stretch of PNR tracks from Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City to Barangay Tunasan in Muntinlupa. In the southern part of Metro Manila, the railways pass through four areas — Makati City, Taguig , Parañaque and Muntinlupa.

For various drug offenses, the police accosted 17 suspects in Makati, four of which were suspected drug pushers; three in Muntinlupa and four in Taguig. Ten people were allegedly caught in the act of playing cara y cruz and the illegal numbers game jueteng. Six persons violated the anti-pilferage law and face charges of qualified theft.

The SPD chief shrugged of possible complaints of human rights violations for conducting "warrantless arrests."

"We did not search every house and applied the ‘plain view doctrine’ in our operation. While we were looking for illegal water and electric connections, we saw the evidence in plain sight without rummaging the residents’ belongings."

But this was contradicted by Danilo Narciso, 24, a resident of Barangay Pio del Pilar in Makati City. "Nabigla po ako, natutulog ako nang hulihin. Ewan ko po kung ano ang kasalanan ko."

Angelita Pascual, 27, of PNR Compound corner Pasay Road said plainclothes policemen forcibly entered her house, destroying the door lock and searched through their things. "Pagtingin ko nawawalan pa ko ng pera mga P14,000 at hinuli and asawa ko na di naman kasali sa drugs."

Lovely Alvarez, 23, of North Daang Hari, Taguig, was accused of being a drug user. She brought along her two-year-old son as she was taken to the SPD office, where she denied the allegations against her. But the police said they found a tooter, a water pipe and used aluminum foil inside her house.

Pasay City had three fire incidents this year, two of which were caused by electrical overloading.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Ramon Elago, who was part of a monitoring team in Makati City, said all the homes they inspected between Buendia and Pasay Road were "fire hazards" because appliances were tapping one source, which could overload and cause fire.

"Their electric cables were thin and not suited for the number of their electrical appliances. Many of them had VCD players, TV sets, refrigerators, electric fans and some, even air conditioners," Elago said.

Elements of the SPD, accompanied teams from Meralco and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), during the inspection. Superintendent Alfredo Modestano, SPD public information chief, said it was necessary for uniformed police personnel to accompany the teams to protect them from hostile residents.

In Barangay San Martin de Porres alone, some 20 to 30 illegal connections were cut by Meralco.