Seven police officers of Angeles City, Pampanga have been detained for the illegal arrest and arbitrary detention of 13 individuals in the area, the Philippine National Police – Integrity Monitoring Group (PNP-IMEG) said.
In a statement released by PNP-IMEG, the seven cops were arrested inside the Angeles City Police Office Station 2 during a surprise investigation on June 2.
The PNP identified the suspects as Station Commander Police Major Marvin Aquino, Police Master Sergeant Romulo Meligrito, Police Staff Sergeant Nikko Dave Marquez, Police Staff Sergeant Mark Steven Sison, Police Corporal Richard Gozum, Police Corporal Diosdado Villamor Jr., Police Corporal Jaypee Mangilit, and a civilian named Esmael Arviola.
“PNP-IMEG and the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) would be given more teeth to weed out erring personnel from the service. IMEG is the primary PNP unit going after erring policemen while IAS is in charge of initiating the administrative charges against police scalawags,” PNP Chief Gen.Benjamin Acorda Jr. said in a statement.
The operation stemmed after the IMEG-LFU office received a complaint personally lodged by one of the victims’ daughters after her mother was illegally arrested in their residence due to an alleged violation of RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 last May 28.
According to the complainant, the suspects asked for P30,000 in exchange for filing a violation of Presidential Decree 1602 (illegal gambling) instead of drug charges.
In the initial investigation, it was found out that the 13 individuals were detained without any single complaint filed against them up to the time of operation.
The arrested suspects were now temporarily detained at IMEG Custodial Facility inside Camp Crame, Quezon City for documentation, proper disposition, and eventual filing for appropriate charges.