Mabolo cops accused of robbery, sexual harassment, extortion

A woman who was arrested by the Mabolo police inside her residence in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City last June 15 has accused them of stealing her jewelry and other belongings, touching her private parts and extorting money from her.

Her lawyer, Inocencio de la Cerna Jr. in a letter, sent a formal demand to the eight Mabolo police officers to return the Bulgari watch, money and jewelry inside a pink attache case, a private vault and an Apple laptop.

He also demanded a formal apology for the “sexual harassment and assault upon her person when you conducted body search without legal basis and touch the private parts (vagina) of our client.”

The demand letter also carried with it a “Complaint for insidious Machination and Extortion.”

Copies of the letter were furnished to President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, incoming Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Col. Benjamin Santos of the Cebu City Police Office and to the Office of the Ombudsman.

CDN is withholding the name of the complainant as she is still in the custody of the Mabolo police pending resolution of the case filed against her by the police before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.

The operation

Last June 15, eight policemen from the Mabolo Police Station, Inspector Vincent Zozobrado, PO1 Teofilo Salas, SPO2 Dante Villacarlos, PO2 Victor Atto Jr., PO3 Lucito Gonzales, PO2 Felix Tuñacao, PO1 Albert Cabue and PO1 Marlon Acabado went to the house of the woman, allegedly to arrest her live-in partner whom they accused of peddling drugs in the area, said de la Cerna in a separate interview.

The live-in partner was not around when the police went the the woman’s house in Lahug, he added.

“Without a valid search warrant and without a warrant of arrest, you busted and went inside her home while she was sleeping and conducted an illegal search on her person and her residence on June 15, 2016,” the demand letter read.

“Further, you forced her to open her bag and jewelry case and PO1 Vincent Zozobrado took out the Bulgari Watch, jewelries (sic) and money in a pink attache case, while PO1 Teofilo Salas Jr. helped himself and took the personal vault. What is appalling is that you touched different parts of her body allegedly on the pretext of a body search and fingered her vagina, again on the pretext that she may have hidden illegal substances therein,” the letter further read.

P100,000.00

“To cover up your misdeeds, you then filed a trumped up case for Illegal Possession of Drug against our client. Plus the fact that you demanded the amount of P100,000.00 with the threat that you will file a more serious case.” the letter read.

“And true enough when the undersigned went there and asked what was the confiscated weight of the shabu, he was informed that it was only .06 grams but since our client couldn’t come up with the amount you demanded, you filed a case for illegal possession of drugs 25 grams against our client,” the letter further read.

Investigation

Senior Insp. Homobono Arsayon, the newly-designated chief of the Mabolo Police, refused to comment, saying he’s new to the position.

“Nevertheless, an investigation will be conducted once I receive and read the complaint ,” he added.

As this developed, Osmeña said complaints like this should be investigated.

“She might be telling the truth. But she might also be telling a lie.

Complaints like this should be taken on a case to case basis.

“For example, if there are more than just one complaint against a certain police officer or police station, then there must be something wrong with them already,” he said.