Friday, March 19, 2004
Labra, 3 others post bail in detention case
By KARLON N. RAMA
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
FIVE years after it was filed, the criminal case against Supt. Pablo Labra II and three of his Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Division operatives has finally moved.
Municipal Trial Court in Cities Judge Geraldine Faith Econg ordered their arrest last Feb. 19 and, after having posted a reduced bail of P3,000 each , three of the four men were arraigned yesterday morning.
Labra, believed to be Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s choice as city police chief, and two of the three operatives pleaded not guilty to the case whose pre-trial stage opens today.
Labra, Insp. Redrico Maranan, SPO3 Jesus “Jake” Rojas and retired policeman Roy Codiñera are charged with arbitrary detention filed by Nelson Rollan, a suspected masiao coordinator who they arrested after a raid in 1998.
Case history
The anti-graft office filed the arbitrary case against them after a fact-finding investigation that also tackled how they allegedly mauled Hercules Abella who they arrested together with Rollan.
(Abella died from internal injuries 25 days after his release.)
It is not clear why Judge Mamerto Coliflores, who had handled the case, failed to resolve the matter sooner.
Based on records, a mere motion, dated Aug. 7, 1998, to hold the proceedings in abeyance until a motion for reconsideration against the anti-graft office order on the filing of the case could be resolved, led to the archiving of the case.
Baldonado, in his resolution dated June 16, 1998, found probable cause to charge Labra, then a police captain, Maranan, Rojas and Codiñera only for arbitrary detention and slight physical injuries and not for attempted murder, grave coercion and robbery.
Baldonado said the evidence was “insufficient” to warrant the filing of other charges.
He also ordered the filing of a separate administrative proceeding before the National Police Commission.
Custody
Police took Rollan into custody while he was talking with his friends Ritchie Cerna, Abella, Medardo Singson and Almario Congson somewhere in P. del Rosario Ext last Nov. 20, 1997.
Labra allegedly approached him and informed him they were armed with a warrant to search his house.
Rollan said he went along with the police until they went up and searched a house owned by his neighbor Lutgardo Pacaldo, where police arrested a suspected masiao coordinator.
He said that after the operation, he told Labra they raided the wrong house but they still brought him to police headquarters.
He said he tried to resist but Maranan pistol-whipped him in the nape until he submitted.
His friends Serna and Abella were also taken into custody and brought to the Cebu City Police Office headquarters where they were divested of their belongings, including a watch worth P20,000 and some jewelry.
He and his other companions were released without charges the following day.
(March 19, 2004 issue)
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