Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde today slammed lawyer and senatorial candidate Chel Diokno after the latter said that cops allegedly arrested his client without a warrant of arrest.
The PNP chief also insinuated that Diokno, a critic of the Duterte administration, was just using the issue to attack the government.
Diokno’s client is a pedicab (cycle rickshaw) driver named Roger Herrero, who was allegedly abducted and shot on the face by cops after he was forced to confess to a series of robberies in Agdangan, in Quezon province in November.
Diokno alleged over the weekend that Herrero was re-arrested by members of the Agdangan police after his client attended a hearing in Lucena on Saturday, reported ABS-CBN News. He had been confined in a hospital prior to the hearing.
The lawyer added that Herrero’s life was in danger and asked Albayalde to ensure his safety.
However, Albayalde insisted that Herrero was actually under hospital arrest because of his cases and was simply moved to the PNP detention facility after his arrest on Saturday, ABS-CBN reported.
The PNP chief said that it was the fiscal’s decision to detain Herrero in the facility because he was still facing charges of robbery, frustrated murder, and illegal possession of firearms, reported GMA News.
“He was in the hospital for months. He left [the hospital] March 1 and the fiscal sustained his detention. The fiscal upheld his detention. Until now, he’s in the custody of police. He was not re-arrested,” Albayalde said.
Albayalde also cast doubt on Diokno’s motives for speaking about his client.
“First of all, I don’t understand why that came out. Is it because of the election fever or not? That’s what we are saying. The public should be aware of this because these incidents are probably just being used [by candidates],” The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Albayalde saying.
He added: “Some candidates probably will be using so many issues against the government or even against law enforcement so that they can blame the government.”
Herrero went viral in November when Reuters photographer Ezra Acayan wrote about his story on his Facebook account.
According to Acayan, the shooting incident left Herrero mute, and the photographer pleaded to people to contribute to the driver’s staggering hospital fees. While many netizens were supportive of Herrero, some people were skeptical of his story.
