Cops linked to Fabel Pineda rape-slay dismissed from service

PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Camilo Cascolan said on Monday, September 14, 2020, that the two policemen implicated in the rape and murder of 17-year-old Fabel Pineda in Ilocos Sur have been dismissed from service.

Cascolan denied reports that the administrative cases against Police Sergeant (PSgt) Randy Ramos and PSgt Marawi Torda were dismissed. He said this is fake news.

He said the Internal Affairs Service found both Ramos and Torda guilty of conduct unbecoming of a police officer. The penalty for this offense is dismissal from the service.

“For the last item in our agenda today, I would like to debunk another patently fake news circulating in social media on the purported dismissal of administrative cases against PSgt Randy Ramos and PSgt Marawi Torda both indicted for the murder of a 17-year old victim of sex crime in Ilocos Sur,” Cascolan said in a press conference in Camp Crame.

“The fact is, the Internal Affairs Service has resolved the administrative case against the two respondents for conduct unbecoming of a police officer, with the penalty of dismissal from the service,” he added.

Cascolan said Ramos and Torda, who were assigned to the San Juan Municipal Police Station, are undergoing summary hearing for murder.

Ilocos Police Regional Office Director Rodolfo Azurin Jr., said the two remain under the restrictive custody of the regional headquarters as there were still four remaining administrative cases that have yet to be resolved.

On July 2, Pineda and her 18-year-old cousin were accosted by Torda and Ramos for curfew violations. The girls were on their way home from a party.

Instead of following police procedures, Torda and Ramos brought the two girls to a secluded area and assaulted them sexually.

The following day, the two girls and their relatives lodged complaints against the said policemen before the Cabugao Municipal Police Station.

They requested for a police escort, but the police denied this.

The policemen who received the complaint and refused to grant the request for escort were removed from their post and slapped with administrative charges.

Pineda was gunned down by unidentified men on her way home from the police station. (SunStar Philippines)