Iloilo rep, town mayor face charges for alleged mauling of cop

MANILA, Philippines (Corrected 8:10 p.m.) —The regional police office in the Western Visayas will file charges against Rep. Richard Garin Jr. (Iloilo, 1st District) and his father Guimbal Mayor Oscar Garin for allegedly beating up a uniformed police officer on Wednesday morning.

According to police reports, the Garins allegedly disarmed and handcuffed PO3 Federico Macaya before beating him up.

Sasampahan ng patung-patong na reklamo ng PNP Region 6 sina Rep. Richard Garin at Guimbal, Iloilo Mayor Oscar Garin dahil sa pananakit umano ng isang pulis kaninang madaling araw. Relieved din sa puwesto ang hepe ng Guimbal Police dahil sa hindi pagtulong sa kanyang tauhan. pic.twitter.com/vaWuOnjAjz

— News5 AKSYON (@News5AKSYON) December 26, 2018

A TV5 report quoted Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, regional director, as saying that "most of the members of the Guimbal PNP have requested for their transfer out of Guimbal. I have already ordered the recall of police escorts when I learned of the incident this morning."

He added: "I will also request for the cancellation of the mayor's deputation orders over the PNP. I told Congressman Garin that I'm taking this incident as an affront to me. I will not let this pass without taking action against them."

Local government units and provincial governments have supervisory authority over their city or municipality police under the Local Government Code of the Philippines, although this may be revoked by the National Police Commission.

Revocation of police deputation was only invoked sparingly prior to the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has revoked the supervisory powers of 186 heads of provincial and local government units so far.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña was one of the first mayors to have his supervisory powers revoked after a disagreement with local police leadership in 2016, although it was restored later that year by Napolcom. — Ryan Macasero

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article reported that Rep. Garin is Mayor Garin's son instead of the other way around. This has been corrected. We regret the error.