Mandaluyong police condemn AID-SOTF raids

The Mandaluyong City police force have condemned in strongest terms the unlawful arrest of three of its members by elements of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) during a raid at their headquarters last Aug. 4.

In a four-page affidavit of concern signed by majority of its 347 members, the Mandaluyong City police expressed its deepest consternation, regrets and embarrassment on the AID-SOTF raid which they claimed "was conducted in total disregard of existing laws of the land and mandated SOPs (standard operation procedures)."

The Mandaluyong police executed the affidavit to air their sentiments to PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and to the PNP leadership.

"The PNP-AID-SOTF might have gain(ed) credit at the outset but the PNP organization suffered humiliation, especially the police station, in the eyes of the public," the affidavit stated. "It (raid) created a notion that the members of the station are corrupt and cannot be trusted," they added.

The manner in which the raid was conducted is characterized with arrogance of power, trampling upon the individual rights of civilians much more their comrades in the service, a typical era during the dark days of Martial Law regime, the policemen said.

They said they will not condone nor protect any member for wrongdoing or unlawful and immoral acts nor tolerate those who bring dishonor to the the good name they have established through hard work, honest and dedicated service.

"Our records show that we have imposed disciplinary sanctions against our erring personnel. We have even put behind bars some of us. But we did it quietly because we feel that these erring personnel are only very few compared to the whole population of our force," the policemen said.

"On many occasion, our policemen have even placed their lives in extreme danger in service to our country and people," they added, referring to the heroic feats of SPO2 Charlito Corpuz and SPO1 Virgilio Reyes, who separately killed three robbers during shootouts inside air-conditioned passenger buses.

A 17-member AID-SOTF team conducted a Gestapo-like raid at the said police station last Aug. 4 and arrested SPO3 Rodel Castalone and PO1s Salvador del Mundo and Jefferson Castalone after an errand boy, Danny Sullano, claimed the police officers asked him to acceptP20,000 in bribe money from Alicia Lloret allegedly for dropping the charges or the downgrading of the case against Lloret’s son, Jericho, who was arrested a day earlier for alleged drug pushing.

Inquest prosecutor Flordeliza Silao ordered the release of Castalone, Del Mundo and Gonzales after Sullano admitted that the money was still in his possession when the trio were arrested.

Silao said the arrest of the three policemen was unlawful.

But Lloret filed a motion to inhibit all city prosecutors from the robbery-extortion case she filed against the three policemen.

The case was forwarded to the Department of Justice (DOJ), a development welcomed by Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, Mandaluyong City police chief. "

Velasquez vowed to dig deeper into the case amid reports that Lloret’s lover, a policeman assigned at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), orchestrated the AID-SOTF raid. — Non Alquitran