THE head of the Talamban Police Station has a lot of explaining to do.
Despite his denial, pictures don’t lie. Or in this case, footage from a security camera could not have been doctored to show six armed men said to be from his station mauling three men inside what appeared to be an internet café.
But that’s what Police Major Elisandro Quijano is telling the public. That it was not his men caught on camera brutally manhandling three men, one of whom they later took into custody and detained in the station.
The blotter at the station recorded the arrest of one Eddie Basillote in Sitio Nasipit, Talamban last April 18.
Granted the men on the footage were not in police uniform. So they could have been anyone. But that’s not what the video sender, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said. He was adamant that the men were operatives of the Talamban Police Station.
And that actually explains Basillote’s presence in the police station.
When interviewed, Basillote would not confirm if he was one of the men on the video. However, he admitted he used to sell illegal drugs, but he stopped in 2016.
Quijano explained that although Basillote was not on their drug watch list, the latter’s name would pop up whenever they arrested drug personalities.
Judging by his own admission, Basillote is not exactly the picture of innocence. A person who relied on the illegal drug trade for a living just doesn’t stop cold turkey. But his denial is not in question here.
Quijano is the one under the spotlight.
It was the police official who claimed they brought Basillote to the Cebu City Medical Center last Thursday, April 25, for a check-up even though the latter said he was in the station, behind bars, the whole day. It was also the police official who said Basillote was arrested in Nasipit even though the suspect said he was taken into custody at his home in Ponce 2 in Barangay Carreta.
Both can be easily checked and verified.
It doesn’t bode well for Quijano, a public official who had sworn to serve and protect, if it turns out that he has been lying.
He already admitted his men arrested Basillote last April 18. So how can they not be the same persons caught on camera taking the suspect away?