Dismissal proceedings ordered vs cop who killed scavenger

MANILA, Philippines -  National Capital Regional Police Office director Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima ordered yesterday summary dismissal proceedings and the filing of criminal charges against a precinct commander in Makati City for shooting a scavenger dead.

Purisima created two police teams to hunt down Chief Inspector Angelo Germinal once he fails to surrender at the 12 p.m. deadline given him to surface and face the charges against him.

The NCRPO chief pointed out that a police officer like Germinal has no place in the police service and his dismissal is part of the efforts to cleanse the command of scalawag cops.

Purisima directed Chief Superintendent Jose Arne de los Santos of the Southern Police District (SPD) to immediately institute summary dismissal proceedings against Germinal, who was accused of shooting to death scavenger Christian Serrano, 13.

“I would personally follow-up the administrative case against him and see to it that he would be dismissed from the police service,” he said.

Witnesses said Serrano was scavenging at an abandoned building in Barangay San Antonio when Germinal fired a warning shot.

The second shot hit Serrano in the chest. He died while being rushed to the hospital.

The NCRPO chief designated Superintendent Jaime Santos as the officer-in-charge of the Makati City police.

Santos replaced Superintendent Vic Loares, who is now being investigated by the SPD for his lapses of reporting the incident late and not mentioning that a policeman was involved.

De los Santos said Loares was removed from his post and ordered an investigation against him for allegedly submitting a “late and incomplete” report on the incident. He said he could not understand why the Makati police’s report only reached them Tuesday morning when the shooting took place Monday afternoon and that there were no mention that a policeman was involved in the incident.

Germinal was replaced by Inspector Antonio de Luna, his deputy as Precinct 5 commander.

According to Purisima, Germinal was with two of his men – PO3 Robert Rinion and PO1 Nicolas Apostol Jr. – at the time of the shooting of Serrano.

Like Germinal, Rinion and Apostol have gone into hiding.

Purisima said Germinal, Rinion and Apostol would be declared absent without official leave (AWOL) once they failed to show up and report for work today.