No medical certificate for port security guard

The security guard who accused a top police official of physical abuse has not undergone a medical checkup due to financial constraints.

Ferlito Ompad, the 31-year-old security guard of GDS Security Agency, said he was unable to report last Thursday and yesterday because he is looking after his child who’s confined in a hospital.

“(Senior Supt. Rex Derilo) saw that I was punched in the stomach but I don’t know why it turned out that way. If I had undergone a medical checkup, it would be okay. There’s no evidence. I don’t have a medical certificate,” Ompad said.

Derilo, chief of the Firearms Explosives Security Agencies and Guard Supervisory Section (FESAGSS), earlier said he saw Senior Supt. Orlando Ualat tap, not punch, Ompad in the stomach in his office last Oct. 25.

Ualat, chief of the Police Regional Office’s (PRO-7) Logistics Division, called for Ompad’s dismissal saying the guard ruined his reputation with his claim that he mauled him twice.

Ompad said Ualat supposedly shoved a terminal ticket in his mouth last Oct. 24 when the police official escorted his wife and three sisters-in-law to the terminal for their boat trip to Dapitan.

He said Ualat seized his firearms license and he had to get it back from the FESAGSS office the following day.

Ompad claimed that Ualat punched him in the stomach in front of Derilo.

But Ualat said it was Ompad who acted arrogantly and inconvenienced him, his wife and three sisters-in-law whom he brought to the pier last Oct. 24.

The police official filed a complaint against Ompad to the FESAGSS.

“I was hurt when I was accused of police brutality. In Dipolog City, my children were shocked when they have read the news. I can’t do anything about it because it was all over the news,” Ualat said.

Ualat said he doesn’t want any settlement with Ompad.

“He needs to be dismissed from work because he doesn’t have discipline,” the police official said.

GDS Detachment Commander Riel Culango said Ompad will be transferred to another part of the pier area in the wake of the incident.

He said Ompad’s firearm license was returned to him when he went to the FESAGSS office last Oct. 25.

“Customer service is part of their training. The security guards were taught on how to handle passengers who go to the pier,” Culango told Cebu Daily News.

Culango said Ompad confided to him that he felt bad when he heard comments from some radio commentators that security guards assigned in the pier area act arrogant towards passengers and their escorts.

“So far, I did not receive any reports or complaints from passengers that Ompad was arrogant. As far as I know, he’s not an arrogant person,” Culango said in Cebuano.

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