MANILA, Philippines — The chief of National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Grab driver Mary Florence Norial, who was arrested for reported assault, had “threatened” and “bullied” the law enforcer during a confrontation along a driveway of a coffee shop in Taguig City.
On Oct. 5, Norial was detained after she had a heated confrontation with Police Captain Ronald Saquilayan, chief investigator of Pateros police, near a coffeeshop.
In an initial probe, NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said Saquilayan was asking the security guard of the coffee shop that he is still waiting for his daughter to finish buying food but Norial was persistent to ask the policeman to leave the driveway.
“Kinausap niya (Saquilayan) yung security guard na ‘please pa-advise sila (Norial) na magpila uli kasi hindi pa naibigay yung binibili’ kaso yung babae (Norial) namimilit. Tinawag pa niya (Norial) kapatid niya. Nagbitaw naman ng salita yung pulis, na minasama naman, at sinabi na sandali lang at may aayusin,” Sinas told reporters after a dialogue and peace covenant event at NCRPO headquarters in response to the arrest of Norial at a coffee shop in Barangay Ususan, Taguig on Oct. 6, Tuesday.
(Saquilayan talked to the security guard and said: “please advise that they need to line up again because we have yet to get the items that we bought” but Norial was persistent. Norial even called her sibling. Then, the police responded that he has some things he needs to fix.)
“So ngayon, siyempre nagte-threatan na yung babae, based sa statement ng police, ‘O sige police ka pala, ipa-pa-media ko kayo, ipapa ‘Tulfo’ ko kayo.’ Eh di nairita na rin ang pulis kasi parang tinatakot at binubully pa siya so inaresto na siya ngayon at dinala sa station,” Sinas added.
(So now of course the woman was threatening, based on the statement of the policeman, “Okay since you’re a policeman, I will report you to the media or even to “Tulfo.” The policeman was irritated because it is as though he was being threatened and bullied so Norial was arrested and was brought to the station.)
“Hindi po siya (Norial), according sa pulis, hindi siya hinarass, siya po ang nauna,” Sinas further said.
(She was not, according to police, she was not harassed, it was her who did the harassment first.)
Mirza Miguel Shahzad, Norial’s partner, said he was surprised by the allegation, noting that they did not threaten Saquilayan.
Grab driver Mary Florence Norial shows wound. Screenshot of the viral video posted by a netizen on Facebook
“‘Yan nga po ang new development na nagulat kami. ((That’s the new development which we were surprised.) We did not threaten them. We took the videos for our safety and our evidence as we already felt unsafe being with the police,” he told INQUIRER.net when sought for comment about Sinas’ remark that it was Norial who harassed and threatened the police officer.
Norial is still detained at the Barangay Ususan, Taguig police station while the Taguig prosecutor’s office has yet to release a resolution on her case.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Norial said she was allegedly harassed by the policeman. She said Saquilayan hit her with his car door.
Probe possible abuse of police
Nonetheless, Sinas said they will also look into the possible abuse of Saquilayan in the incident regarding the statement of the Grab driver.
“Ang administrative investigation namin is separate doon sa complaint ng babae at saka complaint ng pulis doon sa babae,” he said.
(Our administrative investigation is separate from the complaint of the woman and the complaint of the police against the girl.)
“Ang sa’min lang mag-imbestiga kung mayroong kamalian o pang-a-abuso yung pulis namin as based sa social posting ng Grab driver na babae,” he added.
(For us, we will investigate if the policeman did commit abuses or wrongdoings based on the female Grab driver’s post.)
Sinas said Saquilayan already denied harassing the female driver, who alleged that she was struck by the car door.
“Ang sabi po niya (Saquilayan) ‘sir, hindi ko po sinaktan ‘yun.’ Wala po siya ginawa kasi sabi niya: ‘sir nasa sasakyan ako naka-civilian ako.’ Hindi niya matandaan kung ano ginawa niya,” Sinas said.
(Saquilayan said he did not hurt the woman. He added that he was inside the car wearing civilian clothes. He could not remember what he did.)
“Kaya allegation ito kontra allegations. Kung mayroon man kwan edi papatunayan ng pulis namin na wala siyang ginawa na pagsaktan sa babae. So sabi ko: ‘Magpakita ka ng ebidensya at witnesses na hindi mo sinaktan yung babae,’” the Metro’s top cop added.
(So these are allegations against allegations. If there are abuses then our policeman will prove that he did not do anything against Norial. So what I told him was that he should show evidence and witnesses to prove that he did not hit the woman.)