Quezon City cop kidnaps, beats up foreman

MANILA, Philippines – A Quezon City policeman, charged with robbery-extortion and serious illegal detention last year, reportedly kidnapped and beat up a 55-year-old foreman on Nov. 11.

Police Officer 2 Martin Alcarde was identified in a Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU) report, obtained by The STAR, as the man who allegedly kidnapped Romualdo Abuan of Pasong Tamo, Quezon City.

Abuan was walking along Karingal street in Pasong Tamo with his friend, Percival Caro, at around 8:30 p.m. when a man on a red motorcycle suddenly blocked their way.

The man forced Abuan to get into a vehicle occupied by two other men. Caro managed to escape.

Abuan said in the report that the men introduced themselves as police officers.

He said the men grabbed his backpack, as well as his mobile phone and other belongings, and placed them on the vehicle’s dashboard.

The man seated beside him beat him until they reached Ever Gotesco mall in Commonwealth.

Abuan said the men ordered him to get off and returned his backpack and belongings.

After he crossed the footbridge going to Don Antonio Heights, Abuan checked his back. He found an empty 9mm magazine, marked “Austria,” and a mobile phone that he said belongs to the man who kidnapped him.

Abuan said that based on witnesses’ accounts, the vehicle’s plate number was JEC-137.

He reported the incident to the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila. NBI probers found that the mobile phone led them to the identity of the alleged kidnapper, Alcarde.

The QCPD is searching for Alcarde’s alleged accomplices.

A desk officer of the Batasan police station, who requested anonymity, confirmed that Alcarde is an active police officer of the Batasan police station and is currently assigned to help secure the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Batasan police station commander Superintendent Robert Sales said Alcarde is assigned at a police community precinct.

Sales, who was in a board interview at the National Police Commission yesterday morning, said Alcarde’s case was first put into the blotter of the Batasan police station, but was referred to the QCPD-CIDU for proper investigation, citing that a police officer is involved in the wrongdoing.

He said that he has asked Superintendent Arnel Olivares, chief of human resource development division of the QCPD, to issue an order relieving Alcarde.

Olivares told The Star that the relief order filed against Alcarde has been submitted to the QCPD director Chief Superintendent Edgardo Tinio for approval.

Based on the report from the QCPD-CIDU, the NBI is preparing to file appropriate charges against Alcarde.

Alcarde was formerly assigned to the Masambong police station, where he was charged with robbery-extortion and serious illegal detention along with a colleague after they allegedly held a gas station cashier against his will for nearly an hour and then took the P40,000 he borrowed from his employer for his ailing wife’s treatment on June 25, 2014.

He was declared absent without official leave after he did not show up for work in 2014.