PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr. INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—A video showing three policemen ganging up on an unidentified man in public has gone viral on the Internet and generated negative reactions from cyber denizens.
The 39-second video surfaced on Sunday, two days after Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima claimed the reforms being implemented in the 148,000-strong force had weeded out the “bad eggs.”
Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr., PNP spokesman, confirmed the policemen in the video—apparently taken with a mobile phone camera—were active members of the Paniqui, Tarlac, police.
He identified them as Police Officers 2 Ritchel Antonio, Gerardo Bermudez and Fernando Acosta.
He said the incident, which was witnessed by a number of people, including students and children, took place on March 4 in Paniqui.
Cerbo said Senior Supt. Alfred Corpus, Tarlac police director, swiftly ordered the administrative relief of the erring PNP personnel and placing them under restrictive custody.
“We guarantee to the public that the PNP will not tolerate this kind of behavior of our men. We will do a thorough and fair investigation of this incident,” said Cerbo in a news briefing at Camp Crame.
He, however, declined to talk further about the incident, saying it would be better to wait for the result of the investigation being conducted by the Internal Affairs Service of the Tarlac police office.
“It’s really difficult to conclude anything based on what we saw in the video because we did not know what happened before and after the incident. In fact, one of policemen filed a case for direct assault and physical injuries against the supposed victim,” Cerbo said.
Subject of complaint
Quoting Corpus, Cerbo said the three policemen came to arrest the man who, according to Corpus, was the subject of a complaint for slight physical injuries.
But the man purportedly tried to resist arrest and punched Antonio, prompting the policeman to retaliate, Cerbo said.
“PO2 Antonio has submitted a medical certificate to prove that he also sustained injuries during the incident,” Cerbo said.
In the video, a burly policeman appears to accost a man wearing an orange T-shirt and checkered shorts.
The policeman suddenly pushes the man toward a parked van. Another police officer then kicks the man while a third policeman throws a punch.
As the man falls to the concrete pavement, the policeman who accosted him repeatedly punches him in the face before his colleagues try to pacify him.
The incident happened in full view of motorists and passersby, among them students in uniform.
Facebook likes, shares
As of 5 p.m., the video had been shared 12,448 times and generated 2,475 likes on Facebook. It had been viewed 83 times on the popular video-sharing website YouTube.
Supt. Miguel Gusman, Paniqui police chief, identified the man as Jimmy Gregorio of Mababanaba, Tarlac City, who he said was “an unruly person under the influence of liquor who was creating trouble.”
“The ensuing events were apparently the reaction of the arresting officers to subdue and restrain the suspect,” Cerbo said.
Facebook user Berteni Cataluna Causing urged fellow Internet users to “share (this video) of abusive policemen so President Aquino can see it.”
“If these cops mauled this civilian because the police officers obviously cannot take the reasoning of the man they apparently arrested, how much more can we trust the PNP?” Causing said.
“Is this their training? If these cops happened to be governors, president or even just mayors, the citizenry will be oppressed.”
Originally posted: 5:12 pm | Monday, April 8th, 2013