3 cops ordered arrested for illegal detention

A Pasay City judge has ordered the arrest of three policemen accused by a jail guard and his companion of illegal detention and grave coercion for arresting them on suspicion that they were peddling illegal drugs.

Ordered arrested by acting Judge Bibiano Colasito of the Pasay City Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) Branch 44 were SPO3 Reynaldo Mendoza, and PO1 Eric Nicodemus and PO1 Alexshunder Macabeo, all of the anti-drug unit of the local police.

Colasito issued last April 26 an arrest warrant against Mendoza, Nicodemus and Macabeo based on the recommendation of assistant city prosecutor Eva Portugal Atienza for arresting and detaining complainants SJO2 Eduardo Garcia and John Paul Suing "without legal ground."

Atienza recommended P6,000 bail for the three policemen’s temporary liberty.

Court records showed that Garcia and Suing had just bought dinner when the scooter they were riding was blocked by the three policemen right in front the Pasay City police station Sept. 27 last year.

Garcia and Suing claimed they were taken to the office of the Station Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF), where Mendoza disarmed the jail guard of his service firearm.

The trio frisked the jail guard and Suing, but failed to find evidence they were involved in peddling drugs.

After 30 minutes of verbal abuse, the three policemen released Garcia, who was clad in his jail uniform, and Suing.

For their part, the three policemen claimed an informant told them a man in an orange shirt would hand over illegal drugs to a prospective buyer right in front the police headquarters.

When they saw Suing and Garcia arriving on board a scooter, the three policemen lost no time in "inviting" them for investigation.

The three policemen denied frisking Garcia and Suing or shouting invectives. Instead, they apologized to Garcia, adding that they were just performing their duty.

Atienza has ordered the dismissal of illegal arrest charges against the three policemen.

But she recommended that Mendoza, Nicodemus and Macabeo be prosecuted for arbitrary detention and two counts of grave coercion. She also filed a case of oral defamation against Nicodemus. — Non Alquitran