Laguna police chief sacked over torture case

THE UNAUTHORIZED detention cell in Biñan City, Laguna province, where detainees were subjected to torture RICHARD A. REYES

CAMP VICENTE LIM—The head of the Laguna police and his intelligence chief were relieved from their posts following reports of the torture of police detainees in an unauthorized detention facility in Biñan City, Laguna province.

Chief Supt. Jesus Gatchalian, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police director, on Thursday said the two officers were removed as an internal investigation continues into the so-called “torture chamber” in one of the satellite offices of the Laguna police’s provincial intelligence branch (PIB).

Removed from their posts were Senior Supt. Pascual Muñoz, provincial director of Laguna, and Supt. Kirby Kraft, Laguna’s chief intelligence officer.

Earlier relieved and charged administratively were 10 PIB unit personnel, including team leader Chief Insp. Arnold Formento. The policemen came under fire after the Commission on Human Rights released a report on the torture of detainees at the PIB office.

“There was something flawed,” Gatchalian said in a phone interview.

Gatchalian ordered the shutdown of the facility in St. Francis I Subdivision where 26 crime suspects used to be held.

The place is actually a bungalow apartment being leased by the PIB first district unit, composed of 12 personnel, as its office. In the kitchen, police built an improvised cell by enclosing a portion of it with iron bars.

A female resident said residents of the subdivision were aware there was a police “safe house” in their midst, although the vehicles they observed coming in and out of the house were not marked police vehicles but black SUVs.

“We didn’t know about the torture, though. Even those living in the house closest [to the police safe house] didn’t observe any. We only learned about it from the news, so everyone here was also surprised,” she said.

The iron bars were dismantled on Tuesday while the detainees were all transferred to another detention facility beside the Biñan City Hall.

Gatchalian said he surmised that the unauthorized cell might have been built because of overcrowding in the city’s jails.

The facility, however, was not really a secret, since judges handling the detainees’ cases knew of its location, according to Gatchalian.

A male detainee, arrested by the PIB team for possession of marijuana last year, said the policemen were usually drunk when the detainees were beaten up. He said the torture took place when higher officers were not around.

“Those frequently subjected to torture were former police assets who were arrested after things between them and the policemen turned sour,” the male detainee said.