Philippine National Police-National Capital Region Police Office (PNP-NCRPO) chief Major General Guillermo Eleazar justified today the way he roughed up a cop accused of accepting bribes, an incident that was captured on camera and has since gone viral.
The cop in question was identified as Police Corporal Marlo Siblao Quibete, whom The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported was allegedly caught receiving a PHP20,000 bribe (US$38329) during an entrapment operation in the village of Santolan in Pasig City last night.
The money was allegedly a bribe from a woman named Eva Cabansag who wanted Quibete to drop the charges filed against her partner, Aries Ochoada, a drug suspect. Cabansag told ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda that Quibete wasn’t even satisfied with the money he got — he also allegedly wanted to take their motorbike and a gold necklace.
Wow.
Quibete’s face appeared all over Facebook today when various local media recorded a video of Eleazar openly berating and roughing him up after he was caught. An ABS-CBN News report said an angry Eleazar pulled Quibete’s hair and slammed his chest.
However, a few hours after he was reported hurting the newbie cop, Eleazar spoke at a press conference today and said things didn’t appear clearly on the videos.
“It appeared that I slapped him because of the angle of the camera — no. But I was only tilting his head up. I didn’t hit him on the chest, I just pulled him by the collar. These cops, we can’t baby them but we can’t hurt them either,” he said.
Eleazar was clearly not happy about Quibete’s actions.
The erring cop said he acted alone but Eleazar took his cellphone and saw messages that suggested that other members of his unit, the District Drug Enforcement Unit (DDEU) of the Eastern Police District (EPD), might have been involved in the extortion as well, reported Rappler.
The same report states that thanks to Quibete’s alleged crime, his superior, EPD director Chief Superintendent Bernabe Balbe, was sacked by Eleazar today.
Not satisfied with that, Eleazar also fired 15 other officers of the DDEU, reported CNN Philippines.
Here’s one of the videos that made the rounds on Facebook.
During the press conference, Eleazar also apologized to the reporters — well, sort of.
“I’m apologizing to you if it appeared that I was not able to control my emotions but these people, there’s no place for them [in the police force],” he said, obviously still seething.
“I didn’t slap him, I didn’t hit him on the chest. I didn’t pull his hair. I pulled his collar, I made him face me, and I pointed my finger at him. That’s just right. He deserved that.”
So, sorry, not sorry?
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