PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald Dela Rosa ordered Monday to place under restrictive custody the Quezon City policeman who was caught on CCTV mauling a marine engineer after a traffic altercation.
Dela Rosa said he directed the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) to issue the order against Chief Inspector Melvin Madrona pending the investigation being conducted by the PNP-Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF).
“Dito muna sa Crame sa HSS (Headquarters Support Service) under restrictive custody para hindi niya maimpluwensiyahan ang ongoing investigation na ginagawa ng CITF,” he said.
"'Pag lumabas yung warrant sa kanya sa pambubugbog niya, kalaboso siya. Ikukulong natin siya,” added Dela Rosa.
On March 17, the 24-year-old victim who refused to be named narrated how the vehicle in front of him started driving backwards that forced him to follow its direction.
“May nakaharang na sa likod ko kaya hindi na ako maka-atras kaya binusinahan ko nalang siya pero deretso pa din siya sa pag-atras hanggang sa nabangga na nga niya ako,” he said.
The victim and the other party later identified as Madrona argued and eventually decided to head to a police station.
At the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) station 5 in Fairview, the victim was surprised that Madrona turned out to be a policeman assigned in the said police station.
He said Madrona followed him and beat him inside the police station and pushed him inside the jail.
After more than an hour, the policemen on duty approached him and told him that they will release him only if he signs a document stating that he will shoulder all the repair expenses of Madrona’s vehicle, to which the victim agreed on.
The victim said the Madrona was intoxicated during the incident.
For his part, Madrona denied the accusations, saying it was the other person who punched him first when he introduced himself as a police officer.
He, however, had admitted beating up his victim.
On March 20, the victim filed a complaint before the CITF.
CITF spokesperson Chief Inspector Jewel Nicanor said they immediately created a team to verify the incident, which resulted in the recovery of the CCTV footage that showed the mauling incident.
He said they also found out that the incident does not have a blotter report, which makes the police officers on duty liable.
Madrona is facing administrative and criminal charges over the incident. (SunStar Philippines)