Friday, December 08, 2006 Notorious cop finally arrested By Ruby P. Silubrico
A FORMER police official who is now one of the top most wanted persons in Western Visayas was arrested last Wednesday while processing his retirement papers at Camp Crame, Metro Manila.
Senior Inspector Rudy Celiz of Gran Plains Subdivision, Jaro who is now facing three cases in court including a charge for rape, was arrested at around 4 p.m. through the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headed by Supt. Renato Gumban.
When the CIDG served his three warrants Celiz reportedly ripped these and threw them to the waste can, saying that they were photocopies. Gumban secured more copies until Celiz voluntarily surrendered.
He was charged for resisting agents or persons in authority, violation of paragraph (e) P.D. 1829 or obstruction of justice both signed by Judge Amalik Espinosa of Branch 2 dated March 29, 2006 and rape signed on March 2, 2006 by Judge Antonio Natino of Branch 26 of the Regional Trial Court.
Celiz ranks ninth in the top most wanted persons of the region. The reward for his arrest is at P140,000 per approval of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
His 17-year-old helper Mila (not her real name) of Sibalom, Antique charged Celiz for raping her in the early months of 2006 while inside their house in Jaro.
Upon learning that he has an arrest warrant, he hid and tried to settle the case. However, Mila's family pursued the case.
He has another administrative case for grave misconduct based on malicious prosecution after he filed libel cases against some journalists and police officers here without basis. It was learned later that he just wanted to get some amount from the libel cases he filed.
With this, he was dismissed from the service.
He reportedly appealed to the National Police Commission (Napolcom) and his dismissal order was mitigated to suspension of 180 days.
Based on DILG special order dated September 28, 2006 Section 1-modification of forced resignation to suspension or states - "force resignation of S/Insp. Rudy Celiz as published in section IV of special order 1571 this office dated December 1, 2006 is modified to suspension from police service for the period of 180 days from November 3, 2004 to May 1, 2005 for grave misconduct (malicious prosecution) to DILG appeal case number 06-010 dated July 5, 2006 and approved memorandum signed by the Regional Director C/Supt,. Geary Barias of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO6) on September 20, 2006."
After 180 days of suspension, Barias ordered Celiz to report to the Antique Police Provincial Office (APPO) as his new assignment but he was not able to report, thus he was noted as Awol (absence without leave).
Recent report showed that Celiz was reportedly dropped from the police organization. But without the knowledge of PRO6, he reports to Camp Crame and was processing his retirement. He is set to retire on April 7, 2007.
Ran amuck
Celiz went wild inside the office of Dr. Isaac Arestorenas while he was being checked because of the presence of the media.
Prior to the incident, Celiz refused to face the media and even refused to come out of the CIDG office.
However, he was forced to come out for check up, a standard operating procedure to ensure that he had no physical injuries before he is remitted to the court that issued his warrants.
Celiz saw a camera aiming at him, so he went wild and kicked PO3 Vicente Demadara.
Celiz got a chair and attempted to throw this upon seeing that one of the reporters was able to take a shot of him. Demarada stopped him.
He was later subdued through the appeal of his relatives.
His mother, Dolores was earlier irked with the presence of the media. She appealed to Barias and Gumban to stop exposing his son because "he is not a criminal." But Barias explained that he could not stop the media coverage./RPS
