Lawyer, MPD cops clash over Chinese trader’s arrest

MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer clashed with members of the Manila Police District (MPD) over the arrest of a Chinese millionaire on Tuesday.

Police officers said they arrested Jackson Chua in an entrapment operation. But his lawyer, Claire Castro, said Chua was set up.

The shouting match between Castro and the policemen ended with the MPD officers sending Castro and her husband to jail.

The lawyer allegedly shouted at the police officers while demanding Chua’s release.

Castro insisted that she was only defending her client’s rights. She was initially light headed but the policemen who arrested Chua refused to give their names.

“We kept asking them but they only sneered at us. They admitted that they do not have a case against my client yet they detained him,” Castro said.

She added the police officers failed to present a warrant for Chua’s arrest.

Chua was nabbed at a mall in Tayuman, Manila by Police Officer 3 Marlene Remetio of the MPD women’s desk on the complaint that he allegedly kidnapped his six-year-old son from flight attendant Rica Taylor.

Remetio said Taylor went to the MPD to have Chua entrapped.

Castro, however, said Chua and Taylor had an agreement that they would settle their differences.

She denied that Chua kidnapped his son because the estranged couple had a written agreement that the boy would stay with his father.

Castro said she asked Remetio to present a warrant for Chua’s arrest but the latter failed to do so.

Remetio said they have yet to file a case of kidnapping against the Chinese businessman, prompting Castro to demand Chua’s release.

The police officers, including Superintendent Dennis Wagas of the MPD legal department, resisted and a commotion ensued.

Castro said she is contemplating on filing a case against Remetio and Wagas, who ordered her detention.