WHEEL OF TORTURE SUSPECTS NOT BIÑAN POLICE DEPT MEMBERS, SAYS BIÑAN POLICE

By Chantal Nabong

BIÑAN, LAGUNA- Biñan Police clarifies the Biñan Police Department are not part of the allegations on the report of “Binan Police play Wheel of Torture” that alarms local officials and citizens.

Biñan city PNP, SPO4 Ronald Manabat, clarifies that the charged police officers are not members of the Biñan Police Department but mostly of the San Pablo Police Department.

According to Manabat, they are part of the Intelligence’s special task force under the Laguna Provincial Police and it so happened that the incident took place in a private village in Biñan, Laguna.

“The members of the special task force unit came from different units of the Laguna Provincial Intelligence Office. They are not assigned in Biñan and neither do they have a station or office in our City.” Manabat said.

The illegal methods are done in a police safehouse being rented by a Laguna Intelligence Officer in St. Francis Village in Barangay San Francisco that serves as their temporary station.

The Commissions of Human Rights have already made their initial investigation and concluded that the cops have done this acts to to extract information, extort money, force confessions and as a form of amusement of the police intelligence officers.

The Biñan Police Department is not part of the investigative team.

It’s a story that outrages national news, due to the expose and allegations of at least 20 inmates that were said to be tortured by Biñan Police Officers using a multi-color wooden wheel.

This was uncovered upon physical examination of an arrested drug dealer where wounds and bruises were discovered all over his body when he was  turn-over to the San Pedro Police station by the special task force of the the Laguna Intelligence Unit.

The inmate clothes also were stained with bloods, indicating that he was subjected to physical abuse before the turn-over.

The involved police officers will be charged for grave misconduct for maltreatment of prisoners and are now undergoing pre-charge investigations.

The charged police officers that are now facing possible dismissal from the service are led by Chief Inspector Arnold Formento, assigned with the Intelligence Unit of the Laguna Provincial Police Office (PPO). Also included in the dismissal proceedings were Senior Police Officer (SPO) 1 Alexander Asis, Police Officer (P) 3 Freddie Ramos, PO2 Marc Juluis Caezar, PO 2 Melmar Baybayado Viray, PO1 Nelson Caribo, SPO3 Bernardino Artisen, PO3 Renan Galang, PO2 Mateo Cailo, and PO2 Aldwin Paulo Tibuc. They are now relieved from their post and restricted to their quarters in Camp Vicente Lim, Canlubang, Laguna.

This is what the suspects used to torture prisoners. Photo courtesy of: CHR/AFP and Rappler

Some of the torture acts would be the “Pacman” wherein the victim will undergo a twenty seconds non stop punches. The “Paniki“ means that the victim will be hanged upside down for thirty seconds. The inmates alleged that this was done as a form of entertainment of the police officers during their drinking spree.

Edgar Del Rosario on Human Rights, hopes more victims will also submit their complaints and will probe on other prison facilities for similar offenses. To make sure that the police performed their sworn duties as a public servants.

Massacre or a ‘mere misencounter?’

NEARLY two and a half months after the clash of the Special Action Force (SAF) and the combined force of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) that led to the death of 60 people in a gruesome bloodbath in Mamasapano, Magunidanao, one big question is in the minds of most Filipinos: was the incident really a ‘massacre’ or was it just a ‘mere encounter?’

To add to the drama, the leaders of the Senate committees, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) are also debating about it.

CHR chairperson Loreta Ann Rosales found the response of Senator Grace Poe, regarding the senators’ final report on the incident, were too rash that Poe “easily jumped to conclusions” in stating that it was indeed a “massacre” instead of it being a “mere encounter.”

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, on the other hand, “insisted” that what happened in Mamasapano “was a massacre and not simply a misencounter,” according to ABS-CBN News.

According to Secretary Leila De Lima, the evidence that the National Bureau of Investigation-National Prosecution Service (NBI-NPS) has gathered so far showed that it was just “an encounter and not a massacre.” They are also looking if the 44 SAF members were killed for a “justifiable act of self-defence,” which was claimed by the MILF, or if it was “an act of unlawful violence.”

This debate has been showing up in the news for over a week and there is still a big hole wherein we can’t give justice to the families, friends, and loved ones as to how a simple operation to target two of the world’s most wanted terrorists lead to a gruesome death of 44 of the SAF troopers.

This doesn’t just concern the families of the SAF troops, but also the ones of the MILF. All who were killed were humans and right now, debating whether the incident was a massacre or a misencounter is not really the most important thing right now. Yes, it may clear up the issue a bit but it will only spark more disagreement within the government instead of carefully investigating the situations that happened last January 25.

If only the bodies can talk, they might be able to give their families a peace of heart, but what they do know is that they were all brutally killed. But they can’t talk anymore, they just can’t.