2 Cebu City cops axed for ignoring help plea

CEBU CITY — Two city policemen are in hot water for refusing to help victims of a jeepney holdup last May 4.

The two, Senior Inspector Cosme Arreglo and SPO4 Leamador Otadoy, both of the Mabolo police station, were relieved and investigated by the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) of the city police and were found to have committed the lapse.

Acting city police chief Josephus Angan said Senior Inspector Marlou Martinez, CIIB chief, had briefed him about the investigation, and that he is inclined to reprimand Arreglo and impose the maximum 30-day suspension without pay against Otadoy.

Otadoy was the desk officer when the holdup victims reported the incident and sought assistance. Arreglo was then the officer of the day.

Instead of providing immediate help, Otadoy reportedly told jeepney driver Crescensio Rag that M.J. Cuenco Avenue where the holdup took place was under the jurisdiction of the Waterfront police station and referred the victims there.

Arreglo got himself in hot water because, under the principle of command responsibility, he being the officer of the day, he reportedly failed to supervise his men, specifically Otadoy.

Otadoy, in a written explanation, denied referring the victims to the Waterfront police or of ignoring their plea for assistance. What happened, he said, was that when he turned to go inside the station to fetch his colleagues to respond, Rag had driven away.

The holdupmen shot two female passengers in the leg and Rag sped away to take them to the Mandaue City Hospital. — Freeman News Service