Nine cops rapped

A car owner filed criminal and administrative complaints against nine police officers, including the chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory in Central Visayas and members of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit (RHPU-7).
Manuel Arellano, of barangay Inayagan West, Naga City, filed the complaints last Thursday before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas.
Charged were Supt Romualdo Iglesia, chief of RHPU-7, chief investigator Renny T. Eguia, Senior Insp. Joselito Lerion, PO2 Rubello Oriesga, PO2 Ally Bornillo and PO1 Edwardson Masanque.
Senior Supt. Nestor Sator, chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory, PO2 Danilo Maglasang Cabahug and Chief Insp. Ryan Ace Mabilen Sala were also included in the complaint.
Arellano also asked Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol to also issue a preventive suspension order against them.
The case stemmed from an incident on April 10 wherein Arellano’s Toyota Vios car driven by his son Dave, was flagged down by operatives of the RHPU-7 along the highway in Minglanilla town because it did not bear an Land Transportation Office (LTO) sticker, which is subject only to P150 fine.
But Arellano said he was surprised to learn that the RHPU-7 operatives impounded his car on suspicion that it’s a ‘hot car”.
“If these personnel are professionals, they should have told me the process of their investigation in pursuit of the so-called “hot cars,”” he said in his affidavit.
Arellano said the policemen conducted a macro-etching on his car without allowing him to witness the procedure.
With that, Arellano said he was stripped of his rights over his vehicle.
Almost two weeks after the confiscation, Sator released the physical identification report showing that the engine and chassis numbers of his vehicle were ‘tampered’.
Arellano said the report contradicted the PNP Macro-etching certificate released on June 1, 2006 and PNP Motor vehicle clearance certificate on June 6, 2006 when he bought the vehicle from surplus car shop Vanz Auto Square.
He said the results of those examinations in 2006 showed that the engine and chassis numbers were not tampered.
Arellano said he bought the car after he confirmed that the car had a clean record.
“I bought it in good faith in a surplus car shop which was recognized and cleared by the same PNP organization and other government agencies,” he added.
Arellano said if the surplus car shop was in the order of battle in the campaign against hot cars, the police should have applied for a search warrant.
Besides, he questioned on how can an ordinary buyer would know that a certain vehicle had suspicious records.
Arellano said Iglesia told him that his vehicle may be subjected for a public auction after three months to decongest the space in the Camp Sotero Cabahug compound.
Arellano claimed Eguia gave him a copy of an affidavit of undertaking and instructed him to sign the document./CORRESPONDENT JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN