THE former chief of Fuente Police, now Cebu City Police Station 2, is given until today to answer two administrative charges over the shaving of the heads of three girls rounded up during a Libod Suroy operation.
Chief Insp. Wildemar Tiu was given five days to file his counter-affidavit. This window was supposed to end last Friday, which was a national holiday. The deadline was thus moved to June 15.
“He can still file and establish his reply (on Monday). And still if he fails, we will schedule the pre-hearing conference even without his side,” Chief Insp. Jose Gesto, summary hearing officer and chief of Cebu City Police Station 3, told Cebu Daily News.
The pre-hearing conference has been set for Wednesday. Gesto said Tiu can still send his counter-affidavit during the conference. Failure to do so “will aggravate his cases” and could lead to his dismissal, Gesto warned.
Gesto said Tiu received the summons on June 8. Nothing has been heard from Tiu’s side since then, he added. Tiu is assigned with the Cebu City Police Office administration division.
He asked to be relieved of his post as Fuente police precinct chief upon his return from a month-long vacation abroad.
Four cases against Tiu have reached the office of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
Only the shaving of heads of three minor girls were recommended for a pre-charge investigation.
Another complaint against Tiu involves the death of 11-year-old Chastity Mirabiles, a child beggar who died of blunt traumatic injuries.
Police investigators, however, found lack of probable cause to link Tiu with the child’s death. Her name was not found in the pink blotter of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD).
The Mirabiles case is now handled by the regional office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7). An 11-year-old witness has executed an affidavit identifying the police officers responsible for the mauling of Mirabiles. Tiu was not among those named.
Another complaint involved the alleged sexual harassment of a sex worker. This was dropped after the sex worker refused to execute an affidavit.
The shaving of heads case was first reported by the Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS).
Three girls aged 7, 13 and 14 were apprehended for caroling on board a jeepney along S. Osmeña Boulevard last April 6.
The three were detained at the police station where their heads were shaved. A DSWS report described the shaving as “very humiliating and degrading, a form of emotional abuse.”
As of now, no charges against Tiu have been filed before a court.
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