|
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Cops who have sex in raids ‘taking advantage of women’
Undercover police who have sex with women in raids of lewd shows that they are only “taking advantage of the plight of these poor women,” a Cebu Provincial Board (PB) member said.
Board Member Antonio Almirante Jr., a lawyer, does not agree with the police’s reasoning that they have to have sex in order to have an airtight case for violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
He supports the resolution of PB Member Victor Maambong enjoining law enforcement agencies to strictly observe the law and norms of decency in the conduct of their operations on nightspots and bars.
Maambong also calls for a public consultation on the manner by which some police operatives have sex with suspected prostitutes as a way of establishing probable cause.
The consultation, to be attended by different law enforcement units, will be done within the week to “crystallize and rediscover the standards of proving the crime without necessarily doing the sexual act.”
In yesterday’s session, Maambong’s resolution was passed without objection.
He said the consultation will be attended by PB Members Agnes Magpale of the committee on women and children, Raul Bacaltos of the committee on Human rights and Jose Mari Gastardo of the committee on peace and order.
During the discussion, Maambong said that under criminal law, doing the sexual act during raids falls under instigation “unless our police officers have drafted another penal law.”
Maambong said police cross the line when they have sex with suspected prostitutes. They also commit a crime, he said.
“It’s instigation because you are not waiting for a crime to be committed. You’re actually making it happen yourself. When you buy shabu, you are entrapping the pusher but when you use the shabu after buying it, you have committed the crime of shabu use,” he explained.
Magpale, for her part, said the prostitutes are already victims and they become victims for the second time with the way the police conduct the raids.
“This ingenious and anomalous modus operandi clearly offends our social moorings on decency and morality. Further, no statutory or jurisprudential basis has ever sanctioned such a mode of operation,” the resolution read. (MBG)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 7, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
