QC cop mauls engineer as peers watch

A Quezon City policeman who used to lead his station’s antidrug unit found himself in hot water for allegedly mauling and illegally detaining a motorist after a road altercation.

Chief Insp. Melvin Madrona, who until recently was the chief supervisor of the Station Drug Enforcement Team of the Quezon City Police District’s Fairview station, faces criminal and administrative charges for assaulting the motorist—a marine engineer—on March 17.

The incident took place at Madrona’s station and was caught on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the lobby.

Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD director, said Madrona was ordered relieved of his post by the counterintelligence task force of the Philippine National Police, where the engineer first filed complaints on March 20. For his security, the complainant’s name has been withheld in media reports.

Complaints filed

Complaints for physical injuries, arbitrary detention, grave coercion and grave threats had since been filed against Madrona in the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, Eleazar said.

Meanwhile, the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management in Camp Crame has started evaluating the administrative charges against Madrona, he added.

Since the March 17 incident, Eleazar had reassigned Madrona to the District Headquarters Support Unit at Camp Karingal. “For now, he will stay at Karingal but he may be recommended for reassignment outside the National Capital Region Police Office,” Eleazar told the Inquirer on Saturday.

According to the complainant, he was driving along Commonwealth Avenue and had entered a U-turn slot when a car in front of him started backing up.

When the car hit his vehicle, the engineer stepped out to take photos of the damage. This angered the driver of the car, Madrona, who was then in civilian clothes.

A heated exchange followed, until the complainant rushed to the nearby QCPD-Fairview station to make a report—not knowing that Madrona was assigned there.

Footage from the CCTV camera at the station showed the engineer running toward other policemen to ask for help. A few seconds later, Madrona was seen following and then hitting the engineer in full view of the other officers, many of whom just watched until the engineer was put behind bars.

Records from the QCPD showed that Madrona, who had been with the Quezon City police for almost a year, had no other complaints filed against him prior to the incident.

Not recorded in blotter

Eleazar said the investigation would also determine whether the other officers at the Fairview station could also be held liable for illegal detention, as he noted that the engineer’s case was not recorded in the blotter.

“While I have not yet formally talked to Madrona, I was told he had a different story about the altercation,” he said. “But my point is, it does not matter. It should not have been a reason for him to maul the victim.”

“We will not tolerate cases like these,” he stressed, adding that the QCPD would extend its full cooperation to the city prosecutor and the investigators at Crame.

Recently, another Quezon City policeman was charged with murder for allegedly mauling and shooting a senior citizen on March 5.

PO1 Jerald Paguinto of Talipapa station remains at large after being tagged as the suspect in the killing 68-year-old Julito Ramos, whose body was found near Manila North Cemetery, with his hands cuffed behind his back.