2 cops free suspect, file false report

MANILA, Philippines - Two Manila Police District (MPD) police officers are facing charges for allegedly freeing a man who reportedly beat up his neighbor and filing a false blotter report on the incident.

The MPD’s General Assignment Section (GAS) said yesterday Senior Police Officers 1 Alvin Sente and Robert Matutina of MPD Station 8 will be charged with obstruction of justice, neglect and dereliction of duty.

They will also be charged for allegedly “threatening to detain” complainant Brigido Cayanan, 33, of Sta. Mesa, “should he insist on filing charges” against suspect Ruben Piñgol Jr., 55, his neighbor and the man who allegedly beat him up on Dec. 4, the MPD-GAS said.

Cayanan told The STAR he was about to go to work at around 8 a.m. when Piñgol attacked him. He said he was taken to a hospital as Piñgol fled.

Cayanan’s aunt, Concepcion Santos, rushed to the barangay hall to seek help. She said she called MPD Station 8 thrice for about an hour but no one answered the phone.

Santos said she called the police hotline 117 and “in 15 minutes, police officers from Sampaloc arrived, arrested Piñgol, brought him to MPD Station 8 and left.” She claimed Piñgol was a relative of a barangay councilman.

Santos said when she and her nephew arrived at the station, Piñgol was “not even inside the jail” and Sente and Matutina told them the case “was just a barangay matter.”

Santos alleged that Matutina “threatened my nephew that he would be jailed should he insist on filing the case because Piñgol will also file a complaint against him.”

She said she and Cayanan were surprised by the way the incident was reported in the station’s blotter.

The “late” entry, recorded at 6:30 p.m., said the incident was only a “heated argument” between Cayanan and Piñgol and that both men “appeared before (their) office,” presented medical certificates and were advised to go to the barangay instead, according to Santos.

Santos, however, objected to the entry “because first, Piñgol was arrested. Second there was no heated argument. He just (beat up) my nephew.”