6 cops accused of robbing vendor of P14,000 relieved

PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (Photo from the PNP Facebook page)

MANILA, Philippines — Six police officers accused of robbing a sidewalk vendor of P14,000 in government aid have been relieved of their posts at the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Caloocan City Police Station, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“The involved personnel were immediately relieved so a fair investigation can proceed without any undue influence. They are now under restrictive custody and disarmed of their service firearms,” Gen. Dionardo Carlos, the PNP chief, said.

Carlos identified the relieved officers — all with the rank of corporal — as follows:

• Noel Espejo Sison, 33
• Rommel Toribio, 29
• Ryan Sammy Gomez Mateo, 32
• Jake Barcenilla Rosima, 35
• Mark Christian Abarca Cabanilla, 31
• Daryl Calija Sablay, 29

The sidewalk vendor — 39-year-old Eddie Acaso Yuson— accused the six officers of taking his cash on his way to a fast-food restaurant to buy food for his family.

The P14,000 was given to him by the Department of Social Welfare and Development with the help of Caloocan Rep. Dale “Along” Malapitan, who is now running as mayor of the city.

According to Yuson, an officer accosted him, introduced himself as an officer, and then frisked him. In a few minutes, a white pick-up truck with five other officers, as shown in CCTV footage uploaded by one of Yuson’s daughters on Facebook.

As of this writing, the post has attracted at least 23,000 reactions and 56,000 shares.

According to Carlos, the PNP is preparing an administrative complaint of grave misconduct and other charges against the six suspects.

“We don’t want this isolated incident to tarnish the reputation of the entire organization. They will undergo the process of adjudication to ferret out the truth,” Carlos said.

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