A RESIDENT of Barili town filed criminal charges against the municipal police chief and his colleagues for the alleged arbitrary detention of her and her companions from April 26 to 28 this year.
Angeles Gruenbaum, filed her complaint before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office last May 12, through her lawyer Rodulfo Dacalos Jr.
Married to a German, Gruenbaum lives in barangay Giloctog, Barili town in Cebu.
She said she and her companions were in Barili to replace the furniture sets in her house with pieces from her house in barangay Hipodromo, Cebu City.
The complainant alleged that the town’s police apprehended her and eight of her companions on grounds of robbing a house she claims she owns.
Owning the house
“When I asked them why we were under arrest, they (the police) answered that we were robbing the house,” said Gruenbaum.
In her affidavit, the complainant said she has all the documents necessary to prove that she owns the property.
“How can I be charged for robbery for getting inside the house that I own and taking out the things that I own?,” Gruenbaum said in her affidavit.
Gruenbaum said she saw her sister Felidiosa Amora and her son Ramonito Amora Jr. when the police officers came to arrest her and her companions.
It was revealed later in Gruenbaum’s affidavit that it was Amora who asked the police to arrest the complainant.
No communication
Gruenbaum and her companions were released after posting bail of P40,000 each as recommended by the Regional Trial Court Branch 60 in Barili.
Insp. Julius Ompad, Barili police chief, said he still hasn’t received any communication from the provincial prosecutor.
He said the detention was not arbitrary because the arrest stemmed from robbery charges filed against Gruenbaum and 11 others for robbery with force upon things.
“This information was signed by Al Rey Ouano, prosecutor, and approved by Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba,” he told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
Ompad, also a lawyer, is among those charged in Gruenbaum’s complaint.
Allegations
He was in Cebu City attending a conference when Gruenbaum was arrested. He said he will wait for the court summons until then.
“Those are all just allegations. Surely, they need to make those things up so that the case will prosper,” Ompad said.
Ompad said he will advise his police officers to stay focused on their duties.
“We will face them squarely in court. We will answer the charges,” he said.
Under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, there are three types of arbitrary detention.
These are detention without legal grounds, delay in the delivery of detained persons to judicial authorities, and delaying release.