Official warns hospitals: Cooperate or face charges

COMENDADOR

Hospitals that deny police officers entry could face charges of obstruction of justice, a police official warned yesterday.

Chief Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, regional director of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7), said he planned to meet with hospital administrators in Metro Cebu to remind them that they have to comply with “laws pertaining to the administration of justice” and allow police investigators to interview crime victims and suspects while in the hospital.

“This has been a perennial problem of the police for years. I think we should meet with all the hospital administrators in Metro Cebu to raise this concern as inquiry to victims a few minutes after an incident is vital to the conduct of investigation,” Comendador said.

He issued the reminder after homicide investigators from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and Talisay Police were not allowed inside the emergency room of the government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC). The investigators were supposed to interview the victims of two separate shooting incidents last Friday night.

“I want to remind the hospitals that they are not above the law and what they did was an obstruction (of justice). That is why we will meet with them to give them the idea,” said Comendador, who described the incident at VSMMC as disheartening.

If necessary, Comendador said he would “prepare the police legal team to pursue cases against these hospitals which refuse to cooperate.”

“We have to be very blunt about this. We want justice to be served and they (the hospitals) are obstructing the flow of justice. But first, we will have to talk with them,” he added.

Homicide investigator SPO2 Rommel Bancog said in a phone interview that they were not allowed to interview shooting victim Richard Esgana inside the ER.

“Ang amo lang na-interview kay ang security guard ug ubang witnesses sa area. Kung gipasulod pa lang mi adto, makahibaw na mi kinsa unta ang nagpusil ato (We were able to interview only the security guard and the witnesses in the area. Were we allowed inside, we could have identified the perpetrator),” said Bancog.

Esgana was shot in the chest and leg along General Maxilom Ave. in Barangay Santa Cruz, Cebu City. The perpetrator, who simply walked away from the crime scene, has not been identified.

Bancog said they had asked security guard Marlon Samaco and security officer Jerome Jaya to allow them entry, but their request was denied.

Talisay City Police investigators who went to VSMMC to interview two shooting victims were also denied entry last Thursday night.

The victims were construction worker Bobby Nilles, who was shot in the chest, and partner Cheryl Lobreno, who was wounded on her left thigh.