Police officers in Camp Eldridge ‘hazing’ to undergo preliminary probe

MANILA, Philippines—A panel has been created to conduct a preliminary investigation on the criminal case filed against police officers implicated in the video showing a hazing of police-trainees at Camp Eldridge in Los Baños, Laguna.

Laguna Provincial Prosecutor George Dee said members of the panel are Prosecutors Milaflor Mancia, Angela Orendain and Joyce Barot.

Dee said the Philippine National Police (PNP) filed the complaint. Those facing criminal complaint include Senior Inspector Leopoldo M. Ferre Jr., commanding officer of the 1st Maneuver Company, Regional Public Safety Battallion (RPSB); and Senior Inspector Klinto Rex Jamorol, course director of the PNP Special Counter-insurgency Operation Unit Training, or SCOUT.

The panel will determine if there is probable cause to file the case in court.

In the video, trainees who were set to join the police Regional Public Safety Battalion were blindfolded and where only in their underwear while their instructors rubbed their genitals and anuses with grounded chili pepper.

Camp Eldridge, one of the 17 PNP training camps, is the home of the 564th Engineering Construction Battalion under the Philippine Army’s 51st Engineering Brigade. The camp is also being shared with the PNP as training camp for recruits for the RPSB’s SCOUT program.