Crimes of fashion expose bogus cop who ‘customized’ uniform

Felix Varona bought his PNP “uniform” in Quiapo for P1,200 and his police cap from a stall near Camp Crame. —Photo courtesy of Pasay police

He was flagged down for ignoring road safety rules, but his crimes of police fashion got him into deeper trouble.

Driving a motorcycle, Felix Varona was apprehended for not wearing a helmet as he tried to get through an airport police checkpoint at the corner of Naia and Chapel roads in Pasay City around 9 p.m. Wednesday night.

Then wearing what he described as a “customized” police uniform, the 35-year-old Varona brandished a Philippine National Police ID card stating he was a Police Officer 1.

It didn’t take long for the checkpoint officers to dismiss the ID card as fake; for one, it didn’t contain the right alphanumeric information assigned to a PNP regular.

But even after being placed under arrest, Varona didn’t quit his act and gave his “brothers” in the force a salute upon arrival at the police station.

“Just one look and you’ll know that he’s a fake policeman,” said Senior Insp. Wilfredo Sangel, chief of Pasay police investigation section.

Sangel pointed out how Varona “wrongly mixed and matched” a bushcoat of a police official, which is a component of the PNP’s Type A uniform, with a cap that should be worn as part of a Type C outfit.

“If he’s wearing a field cap, he should have police shirt on and tucked in. He’s not even wearing a pistol belt,” he added. “And where did he get his shirt? It should be a gray-blue short-sleeved shirt with white vertical pin stripes.”

5-inch knife

And instead of a sidearm, Varona was found carrying a 5-inch knife.

Varona later admitted that he got his ID “from a stall” near the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame and that he bought his uniform in Quiapo, Manila, for P1,200 back in 2016.

“I thought I was safe. I was not stopped at two checkpoints (earlier that night in Manila and Pasay),” said Varona, who was booked for usurpation of authority, illegal use of police uniforms and insignia, and illegal possession of a bladed weapon.