The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) belied a social media post that claims that a policeman allegedly availed of street food without paying.
On Tuesday, August 9, the netizen, through a Facebook post, said the incident happened along Cabaguio Avenue.
According to the post, she was eating where the street food stall is located when she noticed a patrol car stopped by. A policeman got out of the car and went towards the stall.
She shared that she thought the police would order, but she noticed that the vendor put some of the street food inside a cellophane.
According to her, she heard the police asking to add more sticks of hotdog and asking for extra vinegar. Later on, the police left without paying.
The netizen said she immediately approached the vendor, and asked if the police had been doing that to them, to which the latter affirmed, although it's a different person.
"GRABE. DILI KO KA TUO. Nanginabuhi raman intawon ang tao. Pati ha naman kana? Daginoton pa? [sic] (I could not believe what I was seeing. The man was just trying to make an honest living. Even that, you would still take from him?)," she said.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, August 11, DCPO said they immediately coordinated with the owner of the food stall to get their side on the incident.
They said the said personnel is from the Mobile Patrol Unit that manages and monitors the area where the stall is.
Based on their interview with their personnel and vendors, the said mobile patrol passed by the stall before the netizen arrived.
"Ang maong mobile patrol una nang niagi sailahang pwesto alang sa paglista sailahang order ug paghatag sailang bayad bago pa kini nituyok para mag patrol (The mobile patrol came before they (netizen) arrived. The unit placed an order and paid for it before they went on patrol)," DCPO said.
The patrol returned to the stall and the order was picked up by the police auxiliary, where the supposed netizen was also around.
The police enforcer assigned near the stall are well-known patrons of the area.
DCPO said their office is open to hearing the side of the netizen.
"Kanunay na abre ang buhatan sa DCPO sa pakighinabi sa maong netizen alang sa pagklaro sa maong insidente na naghatag ug dili maayo na imahe sa atong kapulisan (Our communication lines are open to talk to the netizen so we could clarify the issue with the)," the police office said.
DCPO also said they will not tolerate any of their personnel from doing any forms of abuse and power tripping.
SunStar Davao reached out to the netizen for her side. But she has not responded as of writing. RGL