Policemen assigned to Argao police station to be investigated

CEBU CITY, Philippines—All the policemen assigned to the Argao Police station in Argao town, southern Cebu will be subjected to investigation after a woman facing illegal drug charges was found detained inside the station chief’s office.

This was the directive of Police Colonel Roderick Mariano, director of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO), following the arrest of Police Major Ildefonso Miranda, chief of Argao Police station, late Thursday night, March 5, 2020.

Read: Argao police chief nabbed for keeping woman facing drug charges in office

The Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) raided the room of Miranda when they found Jenie Villanueva, 24, who was arrested for violating RA 9165 last September 2019.

Villanueva was allegedly detained in Miranda’s office instead of the station’s detention cell.

According to Mariano, they will be investigating why no one from the police station reported about the unusual detention of Villanueva.

“Dapat nasa kulongan na lahat ng PUPCs (person under police custody). Dapat ina-account yan. Ina-account ng umaga, ina-account bago matulog. So bakit hindi nila ma report kung matagal na yan?” Mariano said.

(All PUPCS should be in the denention cell. They should be accounted for. They should check in the morning and even before they sleep. So why didn’t they report this if this was going on for so long?)

Mariano expressed his dismay as there were constant inspection and reminders given to  uphold the integrity of policemen in the province.

He said Miranda will be facing cases of grave misconduct and might be dismissed from service after the thorough investigation.

“Alam niyang bawal yan,” said Mariano.

(He knows this is illegal.)

As of this posting, Miranda is still under the custody of the IMEG at the PRO-7 headquarters. /bmjo