POSD personnel sued
MADINO Codasi, the visually impaired man apprehended and given a citation ticket by personnel of the Public Order and Safety Division ( POSD) filed on Friday a complaint at the Commission on Human Rights and the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office.
Charged were POSD chief Marvin Herrera and two others.
Vice – Mayor Faustino Olowan meanwhile said the Baguio City Mayor’s Office (CMO) is currently investigating the issues on abuse hurled at the POSD as the legislative body awaits its results.
“We will assure the
public that the truth will prevail, this office is directly under the mayor’s office, it is their employees, so we wait for the results of their investigation, but it would be good for someone to raise it in the council so we can tackle it separately,” added Olowan.
Olowan said it will be good to know what really happened in the incident at the market as well as the apprehension of a person with disability by POSD personnel causing outrage from the public.
However, the vice – mayor pointed out the impasse in the creation of the POSD as a whole saying the matter was briefly discussed in the previous council when an issue of the maltreatment of a taho vendor also came into light.
Olowan said qualifications of POSD personnel are also not streamlined and said it is best to do an investigation of the entire issue. POSD history
Olowan said the POSD was created through an executive order by former Mayor Mauricio Domogan, which falls directly under the chief executive’s office without any law created by the City Council nor clear rules of engagement backing its operation and existence.
It was in 2019, when former Councilor Edgar Avila said the Council should legislate prescribed rules of engagement for POSD.
Included in the ordinance will be the legal basis for its creation as an office, qualifications and standards for its personnel.
On that year, taho vendor Benedick Seño with then POSD head Policarpio Cambod faced the City Council as POSD rules and the legality was tackled in an effort to streamline rules of engagement as well as legality.
During the inquiry, Seño stood by his statements he was within areas covered by his permit to sell but at the same time admitting he has been apprehended in the past by the POSD for selling at areas not prescribed by his permit.
Seño recounted the life of roaming vendors who have to contend with the POSD, further exposing lapses in operations of the group.
POSD personnel who came with Cambod stood by their claims during the altercation saying no violence was directed to Seño but was a result when he did not want to quietly give up his wares.
The council showed the video of the incident during the inquiry with the taho vendor seen scrambling to get contents of his wares spilled on the sidewalk and the POSD taking hold of one of his containers and putting it on their vehicle.
Seño had to claim his equipment at the POSD office. Eventually, the case was internally settled with the Council’s move stalled and not acted upon to this day. POSD Today
Today, humane treatment for persons with disabilities is out into question after POSD called out Madino Codasi, the visually impaired man, for jaywalking.
Councilor Arthur Allad – iw said a consultation with Codasi over what is described to be inhumane treatment from POSD personnel has pushed the legislator to ask for a full council investigation of the incident as well as a review of engagement procedure of the division mandated to protect the public.
The alderman, an advocate of PWD rights, has invited Codasi as well as the POSD in the regular Council session to shed light on the matter in the hope to give justice and craft legislation to prevent similar incidents in the future.
A petition to dismiss Marvin Garcia Herrera, head of the POSD on the grounds of maltreatment, harassment, official misconduct, and abuse of official position was also launched online.
Herrera said the apprehension of Codasi who was slapped with a jaywalking citation ticket was done in a just and lawful manner saying the man was not blind nor was using a cane, accompanied by another individual who both crossed the street where they were not supposed to, forcing personnel to apprehend.
Allad - iw slammed the assumption of the POSD chief on the visual capability of the victim saying his visual impairment has rendered Codasi nearing total blindness forcing him to navigate the streets only with a companion.