Thursday, May 29, 2008
Court drops case v. cops accused of planting evidence
A CASE filed against a policeman for allegedly planting evidence against a taxi driver was dismissed yesterday after the complainant failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Dario Lopez, of Sitio Loay, Sapangdaku, Cebu City, accused Insp. Jose Liddawa and SPO2 Lorenzo Pitogo of planting a pack of shabu during a search of his house on the night of April 7, 1999.
Also included in the indictment were SPO2 William Reed, a policewoman identified as Embaraze and a policeman named Caballero. All were officers assigned at the Guadalupe Police Station.
Lopez accused the five police officers of “willfully, unlawfully and feloniously” planting a pack of shabu as evidence against him. Liddawa and his team arrived in Lopez’ house on the night of April 7, 1999, bringing a search warrant.
According to Lopez, the policemen handcuffed him without identifying themselves. Neither did they explain the reason for the search.
Lopez testified that Pitogo frisked him but found nothing. The other police officers searched his wife and children and their house. Liddawa allegedly ordered Lopez’s wife, Brigida, to undress.
Lopez said his sister and a cousin also arrived on the scene, bringing with them Ponciano Ybarreta, a barangay tanod. Ybarreta, standing outside the house, allegedly produced a small pack of shabu from his pocket and handed it to another policeman whom Lopez identified as a certain “Cullano”.
Lopez claimed it was the policemen who ordered Ybarreta to plant the pack of shabu, but he immediately retracted his statement, saying that Ybarreta was merely asked by the policemen if he had found some evidence.
Ybarreta, for his part, said somebody placed the pack of shabu inside his pocket, but he could not see who it was as the incident happened in the evening and there was a brownout.
Lopez was then brought to the Guadalupe Police Station for illegal possession of drugs. He was detained there for five days. (KAB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 29, 2008 issue)
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