Ranking cop held for coercion, gets lecture on procedures

A ranking police official and his niece were arrested in Manila on Wednesday for allegedly forcing a woman to sign an affidavit implicating two of her friends in a theft case.

Senior Supt. Enrique Ancheta, of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame, faced charges of grave coercion for allegedly threatening Joana Carlos. Also arrested was his niece, Mary Grace Velasco, 26.

Supt. Eufronio Obong, chief of the Manila Police District’s Malate station, said he and his men responded to a call late Wednesday night from Carlos, who claimed she was being harassed by Ancheta, Velasco and a security guard at her condo unit.

She said they were forcing her to sign a statement that accuses two female friends of hers of stealing P61,000 in cash from Velasco’s boyfriend, a Korean national, on April 8.

‘Gross negligence’

Obong said Ancheta allegedly threatened to also implicate Carlos in the theft if she would not sign.

In an interview, Ancheta said he just wanted to help the Korean so he arrested Carlos’ friends on April 9 and turned them over to the Malate station. “But they (MPD) let them go when they failed to file charges against them within the reglementary period; there wasn’t even a blotter record on the arrest. That’s gross negligence of duty,” he added.

Ancheta also maintained that he only wanted Carlos to state that it was she who introduced the two theft suspects to the Korean.
He claimed he was not even in her condo unit when the supposed coercion happened.

But Obong said Ancheta grossly overstepped his authority by arresting the two suspects “without coordinating” with the MPD station first. “He’s a ranking official, he should know our procedures … it’s not right to just arrest suspects without solid evidence,” he said.

Obong said he also sustained a slight hand injury when Ancheta struggled while being handcuffed.