Central Luzon police sue Metro cops who stopped drug arrests

The Central Luzon police on Friday charged 12 policemen from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) with obstruction of justice after they allegedly intervened in the June 21 arrest of two men caught carrying 10 kilos of suspected “shabu” in Baliwag, Bulacan province.

The complaint was filed in the Bulacan prosecutors office, said Senior  Supt. Benjamin Hulipas, the deputy director who heads a newly formed committee investigating the standoff between the Baliwag police and the NCRPO men who tried to prevent the arrest of Michael Lim and Rodel de Borja.

The NCRPO claimed that the two men caught at a Baliwag checkpoint were civilian assets working on an undisclosed NCRPO drug operation. The two men were in a vehicle that contained suspected narcotics worth P50 million.

Hulipas said the committee was formed to determine whether the NCRPO team’s operations were legitimate, considering that the Metro Manila-based unit did not coordinate its moves with the Central Luzon police.

In a June 23 press conference at Camp Alejo Santos, Hulipas said Lim and De  Borja were caught red-handed at a checkpoint on Donya Remedios Trinidad Highway around 9  p.m. on Tuesday.

The checkpoint was manned by officers led by Supt. Froilan Uy,  the Baliwag police chief, who was acting on a tip from the Central Luzon command that a vehicle under surveillance was passing through the town.

Uy said they detained the vehicle but five more vehicles arrived carrying the 12 NCRPO men, who then vouched for Lim and De Borja. The Bulacan police seized the drugs and invited the NCRPO policemen and the two supposed assets to Camp Alejo Santos.

The Bulacan police later released Lim and De Borja.

Hulipas said his committee would also investigate the Bulacan police to determine if they erred in freeing the two men. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon