SEVEN police personnel who all have arrest warrants for murder have surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG).
In a statement on Thursday, February 22, 2024, IMEG director Brigadier General Warren de Leon said Staff Sergeant Quill Carame Bay-an, Chief Master Sergeants Joseph Chumawar Jr. and Israel Culangan Lucob, Captains Justin Dumaguing Anogue, Guilbert Asuncion and Orlando Rosales, and Master Sergeant Dante Baloran surrendered in separate occasions from February 8 to 13, 2024.
Bay-an, who surrendered to policemen in La Trinidad, Benguet, is an Awol (absence without official leave) personnel while the others are active members of the police organization.
Asuncion, Rosales and Baloran are all currently assigned to the PNP’s elite Special Action Force (SAF).
The surrendered police personnel are currently detained at the IMEG Custodial Facility in Crame, Quezon City for documentation prior to the return of warrant to the issuing court.
The arrest warrant against these police personnel was issued by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 174 of San Mateo, Rizal for two counts of murder with no bail recommended.
The issuance of the warrant stemmed from the armed encounter between the personnel of Rapid Deployment Battalion, SAF and the alleged members of New People's Army (NPA) in Sitio Lagyo, Barangay Puray, Rodriguez, Rizal, sometime in 2010, resulting in the death of two alleged members of the Communist Terrorist Group.
“According to the surrenders they opt to present themselves to IMEG because they have trust and confidence that the Group will implement the law with utmost integrity,” de Leon said.
Meanwhile, PNP chief of the Public Information Office Colonel Jean Fajardo said that from January 1 to February 14, 131 police personnel were dismissed from the service over involvement in various illegal activities such as robbery, illegal drugs, obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
She said the majority of which were due to Awol. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)