7 Cavite cops sacked for robbing teacher

Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Seven policemen accused of ransacking the house of a retired professor in the guise of an antidrug operation in Cavite province in August were ordered dismissed by Philippine National Police chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr.

Dismissed from the service were Staff Sergeants Jesus Alday, Julius Barbon and Emil Buna, Corporals Jenerald Cadiang and Lew Amando Antonio, and Patrolmen Reymel Czar Reyes and Rene Mendoza, who were assigned to the Station Drug Enforcement Unit (SDEU) of the Imus City police.

They were found guilty of six counts of grave misconduct, two counts of less grave misconduct, grave irregularity in the performance of duty, grave dishonesty and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.

Dismissal orders

Their dismissal orders were signed on Wednesday by Acorda, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said at a press briefing in Camp Crame.

An eighth police officer, Senior Master Sgt. Daisy Diones, was cleared from administrative liabilities.

“There was insufficient evidence to make her guilty of the [administrative] cases. According to the investigation, her participation was only after the fact of the break-in. She was only involved in frisking … the female retired teacher,” Fajardo said.

Precharge investigation

The police officers have 10 days upon receipt of the copy of the decision to file for a motion for reconsideration [in] the Discipline, Law and Order Division (DLOD), an office under the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, before the dismissal order becomes final and executory.

Lt. Col. Michael Batoctoy, the former Imus police chief, and Maj. Alexes Tuazon, the relieved head of the Imus police SDEU, and other police officers were also exonerated, according to Fajardo, as there was no substantial evidence against them.

“However, they will still undergo a precharge investigation conducted by the DIDM (Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management) for grave neglect of duty under the doctrine of command responsibility,” she said. Penalties for grave neglect of duty range from suspension to demotion.

Antidrug operation

On Aug. 2, the Imus police’s antidrug operatives in civilian clothes broke into the house of 67-year-old Rebecca Caoile in Barangay Alapan 1-A, supposedly for a buy-bust operation.

Caoile and another unidentified suspect were arrested and 20 grams of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P136,000 were allegedly seized in the operation.

A security camera footage which later went viral showed the police officers carrying some items taken from the house, including brand-new motorcycle parts. Caoile’s son said the policemen also took his savings worth P80,000, his laptop and tools.

Fajardo said that while the operation was a legitimate drug sting, the police officers could not just get items and cash inside the house since they had no proper warrants issued by the court.

Robbery complaints were filed against the eight SDEU operatives and Tuazon before the provincial prosecutor’s office in Imus on Aug. 9.