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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Cop ‘mauled me, stapled my ears’
Cebu City’s Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) is again entangled in a controversy, a day after its operatives were accused of summarily executing a suspect.
A Talamban jeepney driver accused PO2 Albert Luardo of mauling him and stapling his ears last Monday night.
His offense: he blocked Luardo’s multicab along Gov. Cuenco Ave. in Barangay Banilad as he tried to pick up some passengers.
The CIIB policeman allegedly put Oscar Sarte, 30, in the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) detention cell since Saturday night, without a case filed.
CIIB Chief Pablo Labra II said he will look into the incident, but he said Luardo will file a direct assault and attempted homicide complaint against Sarte for ramming his multicab.
“I won’t tolerate abuses. I will look into this case. Luardo is one of my very active men and I want to get the full details of the incident,” Labra told Sun.Star Cebu last night in a mobile phone interview.
SPO4 Marcial Micaran-dayo of the Talamban police said Luardo sought their help last Saturday night because a jeepney driver violated traffic rules. He said there was no mention that Luardo’s multicab was rammed.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 will look into the “questionable circumstances” in the death of Dave Ucang Esbra, who was shot 13 times during a CIIB operation in Barangay Luz last Sunday night.
Justice
Esbra’s common-law wife, Margin Mantal Talle, 31, sought the NBI 7’s help yesterday and filed a complaint against the CIIB operatives, led by Labra.
“I am here to ask justice for my husband and to know what he did to deserve that kind of death from the hands of these policemen,” Talle said in Cebuano as she answered questions for her sworn statement that NBI agent Greg Algoso took.
No anti-drug operation happened in Sitio Lubi last Sunday, Talle said, adding that Esbra, 32, was unarmed and handcuffed when he was shot.
According to the CIIB, the shooting happened after a drug bust.
Esbra, CIIB Chief Labra said, managed to struggle free from the arresting officers and, after running into an unlit alley, pulled out a pistol and tried to shoot it out with pursuing policemen.
One of the operatives, PO1 Roy Carlo Veloso, shot back and hit Esbra.
Esbra had 13 gunshot wounds. A standard 9mm Beretta magazine holds 15 rounds.
Talle also complained that her dead husband was subjected to more acts of brutality as his face had cuts.
Esbra, Talle said, was with her in their Barangay Luz residence right before he was shot. It was about 9:30 p.m. and they were about to go to bed. She said they were just waiting for their one-year old baby to fall asleep. They have four children.
“He came down from the house because he heard his name being called. I didn’t think much about it because I thought it was just one of his friends, but then there was a commotion and I heard him shout in pain so I ran down,” Talle told the NBI in Cebuano.
She saw her husband, who went out of the house with only his shorts on, standing upright with his hands in cuffs raised over his head and that she immediately ran towards him and embraced him.
The police, who she said were in plain clothes, then grabbed her husband by the waistband of his shorts, forced her to let go and dragged him away.
She tried to follow them but a crowd had gathered and she got left behind.
Team
Labra earlier said he formed a team after receiving a request for assistance from Luz barangay councilman Renato Labrador and Hipodromo barangay councilman Ruben Paza about illegal drugs in their areas.
Another CIIB policeman will have to answer accusations made by jeepney driver Sarte.
A dyLA report said the mauling happened inside the CIIB office.
Last Saturday night, Sarte was at the center lane of the three-lane traffic of Gov. Cuenco Ave., while Luardo’s multicab was on the right lane. Both were heading towards Talamban.
Seeing passengers on the roadside, Sarte veered right, blocking the multicab of Luardo.
At the designated jeepney stop, Luardo alighted from his multicab and demanded for Sarte’s driver’s license while identifying himself as a policeman, but Sarte allegedly ignored him and sped away.
Invitation
Through the help of the operatives from the Talamban Police Station, who Luardo called up for assistance, Sarte was caught several meters from the police station. He was invited for investigation.
“Ours was just an invitation after the CIIB policeman made a complaint. But minutes later, the CIIB vehicle arrived and they took the driver to the CCPO,” SPO4 Micarandayo told Sun.Star Cebu.
Lawyer Inocencio dela Serna described his client as a victim of police brutality and that they will file a criminal case against Luardo.
Sarte showed to reporters marks left by the stapler on his ears. His assistant, Benjie Sausa, backed him on the mauling.
“He screamed out of pain. I also got scared,” he said over TV Patrol Cebu.
Luardo has been with the CIIB for more than a year. (AIV/KNR)
(November 23, 2005 issue)
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