Court clears cops in mauling man

CEBU, Philippines - Two cops were cleared of serious physical injuries charges filed by a security guard who claimed he was beaten inside a car last June 29, 2002.

PO3 Marcelo Augusto Lerio and PO3 Nilo Balbuena were charged after complainant security guard Basilio Rojas claimed he was beaten, his left arm twisted, and his back kicked which caused a fracture.

Co-security guard Vicente Igot, in his direct examination, said that on June 29, 2002, from 10 to 11 p.m., he was conducting a roving within the vicinity of Yo! Latino (what was then part of the now defunct The Village Courtyard) and did not observe any untoward incident in the area.

He was surprised to see two police cars apprehending security guard Wilfredo Uy who was armed and Basilio Rojas, who was then the drinking partner of the former. Igot said that it was only Uy who had a firearm at that time. Another patrol car came and picked Rojas who was just sitting and listening to the live band whom he witnessed that Rojas was collared and that Lerio twisted the left arm of the complainant causing him to fall to the ground. It was Balbuena who handcuffed and placed him inside the patrol car.

But Lerio in his testimony said that they received an armed person alarm at Yo! Latino. When they arrived at the place, he saw his co-policeman already talking to Rojas and trying to convince the latter to raise his jacket and that when he asked his co-policeman as to who was the subject of the alarm, the former pointed to Rojas.

When he merely asked Rojas to raise his jacket, the latter was reportedly very arrogant and that when he raised his jacket, he allegedly elbowed the police officer but he was not hit. The police officers denied twisting the arm of Rojas but admitted they pinned him to the ground during the arrest.

Municipal Trial Court in Cities Judge Rosabella Mondragon Tormis said that while Dr. Manuel Lumapas, the attending physician of the private complainant testified to the nature of the fracture suffered by Rojas which suggests a forceful twisting of his left arm, the same however, is not sufficient to prove the guilt of the accused.

Tormis said that the owner of Yo! Latino, Nixon Dizon, to whom the court considers to be a credible witness, testified that the private complainant did not accede to the request of the police officers and instead elbowed Lerio which prompted the police officers to pin him down.

 “The court cannot discard the fact that the injury sustained by the private complainant may be caused by his own action in the course of his struggle with the police officers who were preventing him from resisting arrest.”

 Tormis also said that the testimony of co-security guard Igot who testified that he personally witnessed the incident when Lerio twisted the arm of Rojas cannot be given full faith and credit considering that he is an old acquaintance of Rojas. – Jasmin U. Labaco/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)