The police officer who was shown on a viral video slapping a bus driver’s face has been removed from his post at the Parañaque Police Station.
This was announced today by the Philippine National Police (PNP) after an investigation positively identified the erring police officer as PO1 Edmar Costo, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
CNN Philippines reported that while he was relieved of his original post, he will now be reassigned to the Regional Headquarters Support Group of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
According to ABS-CBN News, Costo said he committed the act because he felt insulted by the driver, identified as Joel Mametis. Costo said that Mametis initially refused to surrender his license after he was caught for reckless driving around the area of the Baclaran Church on Wednesday.
Costo alleges that Mametis also tried to bribe him by inserting a PHP100 (US$1.87) bill into the case holding the latter’s license.
Not surprisingly, Metro Manila police chief Guillermo Eleazar rejects Costo’s excuse. He said: “Never, never hurt anyone, because that’s contrary to the role that we promised to uphold.”
An administrative case has been filed against Costo, reported CNN Philippines. He also may face a criminal case for slight physical injury.
The incident first caught people’s attention after a certain Mary Jane Fernandez shared a video yesterday that showed Costo hitting the bus driver. Her post was shared 59,000 times.
It was Fernandez who identified Mametis as the driver after she shared a copy of his license.
Costo gained even more notoriety after another netizen by the name of Joel Ontong reposted the video yesterday. Ontong’s version gained more traction than Fernandez’s, and was shared 167,000 times.
The video has over 6.4million views as of posting. In it, Costo was seen taking Mametis’ license, and said in Filipino “I’ll just take a look at it” before smacking his face with it.
After seeing his license, the officer smacked it once again onto Mametis’ face before he exited the bus.
Naturally, netizens were angered by the incident, saying that Costo shouldn’t have harmed the motorist.
Eula Balasabas wrote in Filipino: “There’s another police [officer] who’s going to get fired. You’re an arrogant one, aren’t you?”
Dandy Caralos added, “How did you become a police, you animal? If the driver made a mistake, tell him, don’t hurt him.”
Fea Grace pointed out that the act of transferring him seemed like a joke.
“He was removed, then transferred.. What is that?!.. [A] joke?”
“‘Transferred’?” Twitter user @regine37384871 asked. “You just tolerated what that man did! The punishment was so weak.”
“transferred" ? You just tolerated what that man did! and babaw ng punishment.
— regine (@regine37384871) July 26, 2018
Coconuts Manila has reached out to Fernandez for further information, however she has yet to respond.
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