Philippine National Police sacks 8 officers

MANILA, Philippines—Eight police officers have been sacked and placed in restrictive custody for allegedly force-feeding trainees with chillies and rubbing the pungent red fruit on the victims’ genitals at a camp in Los Baños, Laguna, officials said on Wednesday.

The policemen face possible charges of grave misconduct after a video footage of the incident turned up at the Commission on Human Rights, said Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, the Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson.

“Actions like these do not have any place in the (PNP) where respect for human rights and the rule of law is a policy,” he said.

“The video clips presented before the (Commission on Human Rights) speak for themselves and clearly establish the culpability of those involved,” Cruz said.

He insisted to reporters that the hazing incident was “isolated.” “Hazing is not a culture in the PNP,” Cruz said.

Initial reports indicated that the incident occurred in March 2010 at a subdivision near Camp Eldridge in Los Baños, Cruz said.

The victims, who numbered about a dozen, were on a special counter-insurgency course in Calabarzon at the time the video was apparently made, and have since joined the police ranks, he added.

The video appears to show the victims being forced to eat fistfuls of red-hot chillies by men who are presumably their trainers, according to Marissa Cruz, the CHR spokesperson.

It also showed the victims being ordered to remove their pants and have chillies rubbed over their genitals, causing them to shout and cry in pain, she said.

The CHR said it alerted the police after receiving the footage, but did not know who filmed it.

PNP Director General Raul Bacalzo formed a special investigation task group under Calabarzon police Regional Director Gil Meneses. Parallel administrative and criminal probes by other police agencies are also under way.

The eight noncommissioned officers from the Regional Public Safety Battalion who were dismissed and confined to quarters were Roque Oro, Evan Mark Cuartero, Jhun Plonelo, Melvin Malihan, Rovylyn Addatu, Marfe Adler, Allan Pascua and Troy Sumayod. With AFP and Leila Salaverria