Another QC inmate dies in custody of Novaliches police

A man who was arrested for illegal drugs has died while in the custody of the Quezon City police, allegedly due to an illness. Ariel Salandana, a 52-year-old vendor from Barangay Santa Monica, was declared dead at Novaliches District Hospital at 5:45 a.m. on Monday. Supt. Rossel Cejas, Novaliches police station commander, said Salandana had been detained since Aug. 15, after his arrest in a drug bust in Geronimo Compound. Investigation showed that at 5:10 a.m. on Monday, the victim was dressing up after taking a bath when he suddenly collapsed. Duty officers rushed him to the hospital but he died a few minutes after arrival. Cejas said that based on his medical certificate, Salandana did not have any external injuries. His daughter told authorities that her father had been suffering from hypertension since 2016. She also reportedly refused to have his body autopsied. The male detention cell at the Novaliches station currently holds 159 detainees, well over its capacity of 30 people, Cejas said. Salandana’s death happened after the controversial case of Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo, who was also detained at the Novaliches police station when he died after he was allegedly beaten up by his fellow detainees on June 19. Argoncillo was arrested after he went out of his house without a shirt at the height of the police’s crackdown on ordinance violators. Several police officers were relieved of their posts following Argoncillo’s death.—Jhesset O. Enano