Delivery rider charges 7 cops over abduction
A Grab delivery rider who managed to escape abduction by policemen in Sampaloc, Manila, filed an administrative complaint Friday before the National Police Commission (Napolcom) in Quezon City against seven officers.
Police Brig. Gen Arnold Abad, acting district director of the Manila Police District (MPD), ordered the immediate relief of the seven policemen, all personnel of the MPD District Drug Enforcement Unit and directed them to report to the District Personnel Holding and Accounting Section.
The complaint included a police major, two master sergeants, two staff sergeants, one corporal and one patrolman, accusing them of grave misconduct, grave irregularities in the performance of duty and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
Chester Dumaran, 27, told reporters he and a companion, a Foodpanda rider, were accosted by men in plain clothes while he was smoking along Santisima Trinidad Street in Barangay Balic-Balic around 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Ride around Rizal
“They suddenly handcuffed us and forced us into their black Xpander (Mitsubishi MPV),” Dumaran said in Filipino, adding that the men removed the vehicle’s plates and later introduced themselves as police officers.
Dumaran alleged that the officers took his cellphone, necklace and P9,000 from his GCash account, savings he said he had been setting aside for his children.
Dumaran said the officers drove him and his companion around Rizal province for hours while threatening to kill them if they did not cooperate. He said he escaped around midnight when the group stopped to eat along Maceda Street corner Laong Laan.
His companion, he added, was taken to the MPD headquarters and charged with drug-related offenses.
Napolcom Vice Chair and Executive Officer Rafael Vicente Calinisan confirmed in a press briefing that the complaint was filed with the commission’s Inspection, Monitoring and Investigation Service (Imis).
Disturbing case
“This is the first time I’m hearing about a case like this, and I am very, very bothered,” Calinisan said. “We will not tolerate this if what Chester is saying is true. We will get to the bottom of this, and we will never allow any abuses of our policemen against the public.”
Calinisan said Imis investigators had already begun looking into the incident and that he would formally communicate with the Philippine National Police to ensure Dumaran’s safety.
