SEVEN Pampanga cops received a dressing down from Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa after being accused of involvement in the robbery-extortion of three Korean nationals in Pampanga last December.
Dela Rosa made a scheduled visit to the Angeles City Police Office to confront the alleged erring cops, namely Police Officer 1 (PO) Jayson Ibe, PO3 Arnold Nagayo, PO2 Richard King Agapito, PO3 Gomerson Evangelista, PO1 Ruben Rodriguez II, PO1 Mark Joseph Pineda and PO3 Roentjen Domingo, all accused of harassing the three foreigners.
"Five years ka na sa serbisyo hindi ka pa na-promote...kaya nagsindikato ka nalang?" Dela Rosa asked one of the policemen.
The policemen answered "yes" but said that he thought the operation was "legitimate." Dela Rosa became angry and uttered expletives against the policemen.
"Pang-ilang biktima ninyo na iyon na Koreano?" he asked Ibe.
"First time lang ‘yun sir," Ibe responded.
"Ang lakas [ng loob] niyo maghablot ng Koreano! Gusto mong sipain kita? Ang tapang ninyo,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa also scolded the superiors of the seven policemen. He said it was impossible that their superiors did not know the illegal activities of their subordinates.
"Ilan ang involved sa ganung krimen pero wala kayong ginawa? Alam niyo 'yan pero wala kayong ginagawa," Dela Rosa said.
In the affidavit of Park Min Hoon and Kee Ki Hoon issued before the Korean embassy, they said the group of policemen entered their house in Friendship Plaza village in Angeles City and accused them of being involved in illegal online gaming.
When the police suspects failed to recover any evidences, they forcibly took the South Koreans and detained them at the Police Station 5 in Angeles, Pampanga, for at least seven hours.
They even demanded P300,000 from the arrested Koreans. The victims were released after paying the said amount. They refused to file a case and instead they went back to their country.
However, on Tuesday, one of the victims went back to the Philippines and showed up before the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to give a formal statement on the incident. (SunStar Philippines)