A foreign national was arrested in his own home in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City after he refused to pay a PHP1,000 (US$20) fine when his helper allegedly violated the rules of the enhanced community quarantine.
It was about 6pm on Sunday when Javier Salvador Parra learned that he needed to pay the Makati police the fine after his domestic worker was caught not wearing a face mask, ABS-CBN News reports.
According to a police report, the cops were patrolling Dasmariñas Village when they “chanced upon” the domestic worker watering plants without a mask. This was in violation of City Ordinance No. 2020-089 which stipulates that all residents need to wear facemasks when out in public.
The cops were patrolling the posh gated community after village officials requested them to do so, Rappler reports.
Here is 4 min video sent to @ANCALERTS. I need Twitter Studio to post longer videos. CONTEXT: Police was allegedly fining helper P1,000 for not wearing mask while watering plants. Owner comes out, gets into heated discussion w expletives. Then police tries to arrest him. https://t.co/xGaqowWSOG
— Karen Davila (@iamkarendavila) April 27, 2020
Videos circulating on social media showed Parra confronting the cops, then fleeing back to his home after one of them tried to arrest him. Off-camera, a woman could be heard pleading with the arresting officer as the cop assaulted Parra and pinned the businessman to the ground. The cop only stopped manhandling Parra after the woman told him that he could not arrest anyone without a warrant.
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Parra said in a statement sent to the Philippine Star that he has a spinal injury that causes him “immense pain in my lower back and legs. Having been thrown on the floor and brutalized and attempted to be illegally arrested, has caused me immense physical pain.”
“Does Makati police not have better things to do, like stop real criminals? If there was no camera running, would he perhaps have shot me, like the policeman did with the mentally challenged man [a] few days ago?” he added, referring to the shooting of former soldier Winston Ragos, who was killed by a Quezon City cop last week.
“My concern is mainly that this police officer and Makati police does (sic) this also to the poor, who are not as defensive as me. Filipinos are all in a dire situation with the lockdown, [and] the last thing they need is Makati policemen going havoc on Makati citizens,” the foreign national said.
However, village captain Rosanna Hwang defended the arresting officer in a statement, whom she identified as Police Senior Master Sergeant (PSMS) Roland Madrona.
Madrona “reminded the staff of the resident to wear [a] mask or she will be fined….All of a sudden the resident (Parra) came out of the house without a mask and began cussing PSMS Madrona. PSMS Madrona was unfazed and cool and tried to explain that he was reminding them to follow the law.”
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Parra allegedly pointed a “dirty finger” at the cop, which led the latter to arrest the expat. However, Madrona let Parra go for “humanitarian reasons,” Hwang said.
She said she was surprised that Parra wrote to Rappler and gave them a “one-sided” narrative of the incident and that the latter leaked the video of his arrest on social media. She insisted that Parra was in a public place when the altercation between him and the policeman occurred.
“He was committing a crime in the presence of an officer and could be arrested even if he retreated to his property, the village was advised,” Hwang said.
Meanwhile, Makati police said they will file charges against Parra for disobeying authorities. His case comes a week after Taguig City cops trespassed a condominium and threatened its expat residents with arrest because they allegedly violated social distancing rules.
