MPD chief relieves 6 cops accused of robbing seaman

A visibly irate Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa, acting director of the Manila Police District (MPD), ordered yesterday the relief of six Manila policemen for allegedly robbing a seaman and breaking both his arms.

"They have no room here at the Manila Police District. These kind of police operatives must be weeded out from service if our own probe showed they are guilty of the offense being charged against them," Abarzosa said.

The six officers — POs1 Melvin Calderon and Aris Macapobre, PO2 Rommel Dimaguiba, PO3 Reynaldo Buan, SPO1 Adriano Parco and SPO2 Rolando Bañez — were relieved from the Abad Santos police station and transferred to the MPD’s withholding unit, the District Headquarters Support Unit.

They face possible administrative and criminal charges once the MPD’s Internal Affairs Section finds sufficient evidence. They are also facing a separate probe by the MPD’s legal division.

Abarzosa assured the complainant, Arturo Bautista, 37, a seaman home on vacation, that there will be no whitewash in the investigation.

"I am also inviting witnesses to come forward so that the investigation can promptly be initiated. They will be given proper protection," he told reporters.

In his complaint, Bautista, 37, said he was playing a card game of tong-its and two others at a neighbor’s house at around 1:30 a.m. last Thursday when the six policemen barged in and seized their bet money of P300.

When he asked for their identification — the officers were in plainclothes — one of them, Dimaguiba, grabbed him by the throat and dragged him outside.

Bautista then told them he wanted to call his sister before being taken away but the officers instead held his arms behind him, and one of them took his gold bracelet as they did. One of the officers, SPO1 Adriano Parco, twisted Bautista’s right arm so hard until Parco broke a joint.

Bautista’s sisters and a brother arrived to intervene and Parco drew his pistol and introduced himself as a police officer. The siblings then tried to free their brother and PO1 Aris Macapobre broke Bautista’s other arm during the commotion.

The officers left when they noticed that Bautista was in pain. The seaman was taken by his siblings to the National Orthopedic Hospital, where doctors recommended surgery.

The six accused officers were summoned by Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., chief of the MDP’s General Assignment Section, to face their accuser but they refused, claiming they wanted to avoid trial by publicity. They said they would only answer charges in court.

Abarzosa said Abad Santos police station chief Superintendent Arturo Paglinawan could not be held liable for his men’s alleged misdeeds because he immediately filed a report on the incident.

Paglinawan maintained his men made a legal arrest since there was a complaint from neighbors that Bautista and his companions were drinking liquor in a public place and were engaged in illegal gambling.

Bautista said he is now unsure of his family’s future since he might not be able to leave for abroad in December because of his condition.