News broke yesterday about Makati cops who were caught on video with a woman, naked and bent over, subjected to a strip search demo. It was recorded at the police station’s Drug Enforcement Unit office in March 2017. The chief of the unit and three other officers were caught laughing during the procedure.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar sacked the four cops today July 5, condemning “this kind of deviant behavior in our ranks.”
The entire and true story is still muddled. ABS-CBN initially reported in an exclusive story published July 4 that the naked woman on the video was caught in Makati Police’s drugs operation. This is according to their unnamed source who is a former anti-drug operative in the same station. But in its latest article published July 5 about the issue as of writing, it quotes Makati Police chief Senior Supt. Rogelio Simon: “Binayaran nila iyung babae dahil ito’y kakilala nila, parang kaibigan nila, parang asset, ganoon din… Parang nagkaroon ng demo kung paano mo hahanapin sa isang suspek iyung itinatagong droga sa katawan.”
EXCLUSIVE: NCRPO, pinaiimbestigahan ang nakunang video ng mga tauhan ng Makati City Police na pinaghuhubad, pinatutuwad ang ilang umano’y nahuli sa mga operasyon kontra droga @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/wwuXbZ3Onf
— Bianca Dava (@biancadava) July 4, 2018
Nevertheless, subjecting a person to a strip search (intimate searching of a suspected person for weapons or contrabands hidden in personal effects and body cavities [mouth, anus, vagina, etc.] without their clothes on) is violating their dignity. And in this particular setup, where there are four people of rank, I can only agree with what Gabriela partylist said in a statement: “Isa na naman itong pagpapakita ng paggamit sa kapangyarihan ng mga kapulisan upang abusuhin at yurakan ang karapatang pantao ng mga walang kalaban-laban.”
Besides, that demo with a woman wasn’t necessary at all. If it did anything, it just degraded the woman’s honor. Whatever happened to the police’s motto “to serve and protect?”
SPD chief Tomas Apolinario, nais ipa-trace ang umano’y mga drug suspect na pinaghubad para marinig ang kanilang panig. Kuha ang video noong nakaraang taon. @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/BtZFYPQrwb
— Bianca Dava (@biancadava) July 4, 2018
If it was really for educational purposes, no male officer should’ve been there, maliciously gawking at the “model.” It should have been done in a private room, in a formal setting.
Like what Simon said, what happened was very wrong. “Pulis sila na dapat nangangalaga ng karapatan ng bawat tao, lalong lalo na sa babae na dapat pinapangalagaan natin, at sa tingin ko nalabag nga dito,” he says.
The investigation’s just starting. The woman who volunteered in the video is in the custody of NCRPO now.
The four Makati cops were power-tripping. Eleazar already axed them from their position. We can only wish they won’t be reassigned to other posts anymore (just like what happened to relieved Caloocan police last year).
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Featured image courtesy of Inquirer.net
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