All policemen involved in crime should be locked up and treated as common criminals.
This was the assurance given by Lt. Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, the Philippine National Police chief, stressing that two policemen allegedly responsible for the death of a 15-year-old girl and the rape of her cousin in Ilocos Sur province would be dismissed from the service.
At a press briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Monday, Cascolan denied reports that the administrative charges against Sergeants Randy Ramos and Marawi Torda of the San Juan police in Ilocos Sur had been dismissed.
“The fact is, the PNP-IAS (Internal Affairs Service) has resolved the administrative case against the two respondents for ‘conduct unbecoming of a police officer,’ with the penalty of dismissal from the service,” Cascolan said.
Both Ramos and Torda are also undergoing summary hearing for being the primary suspects in the murder of the rape victim in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, on July 2.
‘Half-truth’ reports
The girl was shot and killed while she was on her way home after filing a rape complaint against Torda. Her cousin also filed a rape case against Ramos that day.
The two girls were arrested by the two policemen on a charge of violating curfew in San Juan town on June 27.
Brig. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., regional police director in the Ilocos, described as “half-truth” reports on social media that the administrative charges against Ramos and Torda had been dismissed altogether.
Azurin said new sets of administrative complaints were filed against the two after the first ones were dismissed, one of them due to a technicality.
Citing a resolution of the regional police IAS, Azurin said the complaint against Torda did not bear the signature of the victim and was dismissed.
The case against Ramos, on the other hand, was junked after he proved that he did not force the girl’s cousin to have sex with him, arguing that the act was consensual.
Azurin said the new administrative complaint against Torda was based on the fact that he was under the influence of alcohol when they arrested the two girls.
Ramos’ admission to having sex with someone other than his wife was also a ground for a separate administrative complaint.
These offenses would merit dismissal from the police service, Azurin said.
Restrictive custody
The two policemen are under restrictive custody of the regional police office.
Torda and Ramos filed motions for reconsideration, saying they were not informed of the new cases filed against them.
Lawyer Benilda Indasen of the regional police IAS said the resolutions for the suspects’ dismissal from service had been forwarded to PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa, before his retirement early this month.