Wednesday, January 17, 2007 Rookie cop produced copy of Asean ID for his friend By Jovy S. Taghoy & Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A ROOKIE policeman was placed under camp restriction after he was caught photocopying his security identification card (ID) for the 12th Asean Summit to give to his friend, a Mindanao-based trader, last week.
Acting Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador also ordered the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) to conduct an administrative investigation against PO1 Benjie Gan.
Meanwhile, Muslim communities assured local authorities of their cooperation in maintaining peace and order during the Sinulog.
Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA) 7 Director Sakiran Hajan said local Muslim leaders will continue to assist law enforcement agencies in securing Cebu City this weekend.
As in the previous years, they will alert authorities about the presence of individuals who are new in their communities.
Hajan also thanked Muslim brothers for helping, in their own way, make the 12 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit a successful event.
Tip
Last Saturday, the rookie policeman and his friend, identified as Anodin Dumarpa, were held for questioning after an attendant of the photocopying machine called up police to report what he was doing.
Police later released Dumarpa that day.
Gan, a graduate of the Regional Training School Central Visayas, is undergoing field training. He is assigned at the Fuente Osmeña Police Station and detailed as a beat patrol policeman.
According to initial information relayed to Comendador, Gan had his ID photocopied so Dumarpa could use it as proof that he has a friend who is a policeman.
The ID granted Gan limited access in the field, such as the ceremonial routes, but did not allow him to enter the venues of the recently concluded Asean summit.
Gan will stay at the CCPO’s Camp Sotero Cabahug until the CIIB comes up with a recommendation on his case.
With the heads of state gone and the Asean summit declared a success, all those involved in the event are giving themselves a pat in the back for a job well done.
Dialogue
The local Muslim communities are no exception.
“I’m happy to say that during the Asean summit, there was no untoward incident in the Muslim communities. In fact they have coordinated with the City and Provincial Governments, although it was unfortunate that something happened to one of our leaders,” Hajan said.
He was referring to the raid conducted on the house of Ustadz Najib Razul in Minglanilla, Cebu last Friday dawn.
Muslim leaders visited their honorary sultan, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena, at City Hall yesterday to discuss the incident and other issues.
Razul said he wants to confront the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 operatives who conducted the raid, so they could explain why they would think he is capable of keeping an arsenal in his home.
Even if Police Regional Office 7 Chief Silverio Alarcio Jr. and CIDG 7 Officer Jose Jorge Corpuz already apologized for the mistake, Razul said he has not dismissed his plan to press charges against the operatives.
Blind
Corpuz earlier explained that they received information that Razul’s place was used to store assorted high-powered firearms and ammunition. They applied for a search warrant, which was granted.
But no ammunition was found during the raid.
In an interview with reporters at City Hall, Razul said the CIDG policemen have issued a sworn statement that they saw him cleaning firearms and ammunitions when they entered his house.
“How will I be able to clean with these hands of mine? And these eyes that are already severed (sic)? And they said their warrant is based on an intelligence report? My god, their intelligence is very, very, very, very, very poor,” he said.
“OA kaayo ang pag-serve sa warrant. If they did a background check on me, then they would have known that I am a blind man, and that I’m a public personality,” Razul continued. (JST/LCR)
