Bato: Crame, not Basilan, for QC cop
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa placed under restrictive custody yesterday the Quezon City policeman who was caught on video beating up a marine engineer after a traffic altercation last week.
Dela Rosa said he directed the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) to issue the order against Chief Inspector Melvin Madrona pending the investigation being conducted by the PNP Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF).
He also clarified that instead of sending Madrona to Basilan, the police officer will be restricted to the Headquarters Support Service at Camp Crame in Quezon City pending the investigation.
This is to “prevent him from influencing the ongoing investigation by the CITF,” Dela Rosa said during yesterday’s press briefing.
The marine engineer, in a complaint filed with the CITF, said he was driving along Commonwealth Avenue on March 17 when a car ahead of him reversed gears. He tried to avoid the car but couldn’t drive backward because another vehicle was behind his car.
When Madrona’s car backed into the complainant’s vehicle, both drivers got out and an argument erupted.
Madrona reportedly grabbed the motorist’s shirt, prompting the complainant to run to the Fairview police station for help, with the policeman running after him.
Instead of assisting, about six policemen at the station did nothing as Madrona reportedly cursed and beat up the motorist.
The police officers then carried the motorist to the police station, where Madrona continued to confront him, after which the complainant was tossed into a detention cell.
The incident was captured by the station’s closed-circuit television cameras.
After the motorist bared his ordeal in a television interview and filed a complaint with the CITF, his tormentor was identified as Madrona, supervisor of the Fairview police station’s drug enforcement unit.
Madrona faces administrative and criminal charges for physical injury, grave threats, grave coercion and arbitrary detention, which were filed by the CITF.
Madrona denied the accusations, saying it was the complainant who punched him first when he introduced himself as a police officer. He, however, admitted beating up the complainant.