2 men accuse 4 Manila cops of torture

Four policemen reportedly beat up and poured hot cooking oil on two men accused of robbing jeepney passengers in Manila on Monday morning.

The alleged torture of Gerry Diaz, 38; and Rommel Perez, 30; took place inside the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 3 in Sta. Cruz, according to the two men’s live-in partners who filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Tuesday.

Charito Yamson and Barbie Malig went to the CHR office to report the supposedly inhumane treatment of Diaz and Perez.

“They were treated like pigs. We did not think twice about coming here,” Yamson, Diaz’s partner, said in an interview with the Inquirer at the CHR office in Quezon City.

“These policemen should be removed from the service,” she added.

Their partners were picked up by the police on the suspicion that they were among the men who robbed passengers of a Monumento-bound jeepney at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Pampanga Street in Sta. Cruz at around 3:50 a.m. on Monday.

According to the women, four policemen beat up their partners and then doused the pair with hot cooking oil to force them into confessing.

Carmelita Rosete, chief of the CHR National Capital Region protection and monitoring division, immediately sent investigators to the police station to look into the complaint and check on the pair’s health.

“Based on the complaints, they experienced physical injury which is torture. It’s clear it’s a form of torture,” Rosete said.

When interviewed by reporters at the police station, Perez, who showed burn marks on his shoulder and back, admitted that he took part in the robbery.

In a radio interview at the CHR office, Yamson said that her partner, Diaz, was a snatcher but not a holdup man.

Diaz told reporters that he was just walking on Pampanga Street when the police arrested him on Monday morning.

MPD Station 3 commander Superintendent James Afalla said that five members of the MPD Station 3 would be summoned to take part in a police lineup today so that their accusers could identify them.

“I will not tolerate any form of abuse committed by my men. They have to suffer the consequences if they committed abuses against the suspects,” he added.