After Cebu mauling incident, victim claims getting death threats
CEBU CITY — The common-law wife of a drug suspect who was allegedly mauled by policemen has accused the chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) of threatening to kill her family.
Angela (not her real name) claimed that Police Col. Royina Garma, chief of the CCPO, relayed a message to them saying that she will kill all of them, including their children and cousins.
“My husband told me that Garma is threatening to kill us including our children and even our cousins. She will kill all of us if we will not delete the videos (which shows the mauling incident) and if we will continue to file charges against the police,” said the common-law wife of Eddie Basillote, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity on Sunday.
Sought for comment, Garma denied the accusations, saying they were unfounded.
“Bakit ko sasabihin? Eh di gawain ko eh. Di ba? Pangalawa, what will I gain from telling or threatening them kung gagawin ko iyan? And I will not stoop down sa level nila. (Why will I say that? Second, what will I gain by threatening them? I will not stoop down to their level),” she said.
Eight policemen were earlier pulled out from their posts to face investigation on allegations that they were among those who beat up Basillote’s wife and two other civilians on Maundy Thursday.
READ: Cebu cops tagged in mauling video relieved from anti-drug ops
Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, director of the Central Visayas police, said an investigation will be conducted to find out whether the officers were the same men who were caught in a now-viral video mauling three persons.
Garma insisted that the seven-minute video, which was taken from footage of a closed-circuit television camera, has “no evidentiary value” and”pure chismis.”
“It will not even stand in any court,” she added.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier offered a reward of P100,000 for each person identified in the video. On Saturday, he named one of the policemen who is allegedly part of the controversial operation as a certain Police Sergeant Reoven Carmelo Rota, the team leader of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Talamban Police Station.
In a post on his Facebook page, Osmeña said he based his information from 15 different texters. He also named a certain Tagalog, Magdali, Lagunsad, Tudtud, and Adalim as among those in the video.
Garma said three of the policemen who were publicly identified by Osmeña on Facebook had started to receive death threats.
She said it’s not proper to name the policemen on Facebook since they have not been proven guilty of any crime or were given the chance to explain. /ee
