ROBBERY RAPS
Traffic cops eyed
for line-up today

Bacolod City Police Office director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, yesterday said Traffic Management Group officers may be presented in a police line-up today amid suggestions that they be shown to the farmer who alleged that a BCPO officer and his two companions robbed him Friday.

Quebrar said that he has been coordinating with the TMG after Alex Bautista identified PO1 Frankie Alojado as the one who took his P65,000 in cash to give the farmer a chance to see the other officers in person.

“This will allow (Bautista) to see them. If he cannot identify them, then they will be cleared,” Quebrar said.

Bautista had been urged to see the TMG officers in person, even before he has identified Alojado, a former BCPO-TMU member.

The TMG and the BCPO-TMU were among the groups that the Land Transportation Office had deputized to enforce the traffic law.

An August 13, 2007 LTO memorandum circular had, however, suspended the authority of the two groups until further notice.

Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office director, Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, on the other hand, said that he has also talked with the TMG for the possible line-up today.

“I can negotiate for it although they are not under me,” Franco said.

The TMG, which is housed at the NOPPO compound, is a separate unit of the Philippine National Police like the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and is not under the jurisdiction of either Quebrar or Franco.

Alojado's lawyer, Andy Hagad, also called for a TMG line-up, saying that identifying someone in person is different from merely looking at a picture.

The line-up would also be a fair act in respect to what the TMU did, Hagad said.

Before Bautista pinpointed Alojado at the BCPO-TMU Friday, he was allowed to see the 11 TMU members who were present that time and failed to identify any of them to be the one who robbed him.

Two other members of the group were not present during the line-up but their file pictures were shown to Bautista.

With the TMG operatives, on the other hand, the farmer also failed to identify any of them through their file pictures but the TMU had suggested that he must see the officers in person to validate his identification.

‘INCONSISTENCIES'

As Bautista was being accompanied to seek help from the BCPO to find out who took his money, which he said, he was going to use for his mother-in-law's dialysis, he had repeatedly described the officer who robbed him to be short in height, dark in complexion, and is muscled in build.

He also told the members of the media that Alojado was the one who took the bundle of money from his pants' pocket but later, he told Police Station 1 chief investigator, SPO1 Willie Perez that it was one of Alojado's unidentified male companions who got the cash from his pants.

These statements, Alojado said, are inconsistencies in Bautista's allegations against him because he is tall, of white complexion, and is not muscled.

He also reiterated that he has long given up his blue pinstriped long-sleeved shirt and black hi-cut boots after his stint at the TMU and that he was with his family in Brgy. Handumanan in Bacolod at the time Bautista said he was robbed.

Alojado added they will post bail once the formal charge against him is filed in court.

‘POSSIBLE DISMISSAL'

Meanwhile, Quebrar said that although Alojado may be discharged from the service if he is proved guilty by the court, his possible dismissal will still go through the process of a summary hearing after an administrative case is filed, that will be handled by the PNP summary hearing officer.

“Let's wait for the formal charge to be filed in court first,” Quebrar said of reports talking about Alojado's possible dismissal.

Franco, on the other hand, said that Alojado's case shows that police officers caught violating the law should be punished, but added, that if he will be acquitted later, he will personally back him up.*PP

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Policeman restricted
for threats complaint

A policeman allegedly threatened a barangay captain with a gun on Sunday in Brgy. Caningay, Candoni, Negros Occidental, which police investigators suspect was triggered by personal grudges.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, police provincial director, yesterday ordered the restriction of SPO1 Crispulo Nonado at the 614 th Provincial Mobile Group headquarters in Cauayan, following complaints lodged against him by Caningay Brgy. Capt. Rolando Yquilan.

In his complaint filed at the Candoni police station, Yquilan claimed he was threatened with a gun by Nonado on Sunday.

Franco urged the barangay official to pursue the filing of a criminal complaint against Nonado, a member of the 614 th PMG.

He also hinted at transferring Nonado from the 614 th PMG to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, pending investigations of the complaints against him by Yquilan.

Police investigators are also looking into claims that the feud between Nonado and Yquilan stemmed from the result of the recent-concluded barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, where the police officer reportedly supported the opponent of the elected barangay chairman of Caningay, Candoni.*GPB

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