An army captain found himself in hot water for allegedly spraying tear gas on the dance floor of a popular bar and restaurant in Quezon City before dawn Saturday.
The fumes caused panic among the customers of Padi’s Point bar at Araneta Center, Cubao, forcing some of them to leave without settling their bills, police said.
Capt. Licerio Tirso Plan, 42, of Sampaloc, Manila, was arrested and later subjected to inquest proceedings on charges of alarm and scandal in the city prosecutors’ office, which recommended that the case undergo a preliminary investigation.
Plan had a companion at the restaurant identified as 2nd Lt. Ramon Angelio. Both men report to the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, according to a police report on the incident.
Irritating fumes
Case investigator PO2 Dennis Llapitan of the Quezon City Police District said Plan was arrested on a complaint from bar manager Kenneth del Rosario, 30.
The incident happened around 3 a.m. Saturday inside the resto-bar, which mainly caters to teenage or young adult crowds.
In his report to the police, the bar’s bouncer Paquito Villegas said he sensed something wrong when the customers became restless at their tables due to irritating fumes.
Minutes later, customers Elma Longay and Breddie Mengullo approached the bouncer and told him that they saw Plan spray a small canister of tear gas on the dance floor.
Customers’ complaints
Plan and Angelio were seen stepping out of the establishment when they were confronted by the bouncer about the customers’ complaints.
Villegas said he saw Plan discreetly throw away a canister labeled “Smartguard Tear Gas,” but the bouncer was able to recover it just outside the nearby North Park restaurant.
Llapitan noted that tear gas canisters, like the one of that brand, were available in specialized stores and were being sold to civilians.
Plan denied the allegations when accosted by Villegas, who turned him over to the QCPD’s Cubao station.