RAPS V. ANTI-DRUG OPERATIVES DENIED

CLAIMS of persons earlier arrested for illegal drugs against Dagupan City
policemen would be considered allegations or hearsay unless a formal
complaint is filed, Dagupan Police Chief Noli Talino said.

He said the operation of the City Police Intelligence Unit was a legitimate
one. He clarified that if lapses were committed the operatives will be held
liable such violation.

The police chief urged the complainants to file charges at his office so he
could act on them.

But if they have doubt in him, he said there are other proper fora to which
they could address their complaints against erring policemen.

He cited the People's Law Enforcement Board (Pleb) and the internal affairs
service of the provincial and regional police offices.

Tali=F1o issued this statement even as two police intelligence operatives
refuted the allegations of the complainants aired through a local radio
station.

SPO4 Alex Decano and SPO2 Enrique Colombino, said their operations were by
virtue of search warrants issued by the court.

Christopher Ballesteros, a resident of Sitio Highlander in Barangay
Mayombo, claimed that Colombino shot him in the leg for no apparent reason.

He claimed that the operatives carried him like a pig and threw him in
their vehicle and that Colombino even pushed the nozzle of his gun on his
gunshot wound.

Ballesteros wife Roda corroborated her husband's story as she said that
Colombino slapped her several times and kicked her when she tried to intervene.

Colombino denied the allegations, saying that when one of his companions
cornered Ballesteros, the latter pulled out an ice pick and tried to attack
his companion, prompting him to shoot the suspect.

At that instance, Roda allegedly pulled Ballesteros to a muddy canal where
they sat because they were inserting the sealed illegal drugs and money
into the muddy bank of the canal, so they pulled them out.

Colombino also denied knowing a certain Brutus who is allegedly "nagkakalat
ng droga sa looban ng (spreading drugs in)" Sitio Aling along Arellano Street.

An owner of a house allegedly frequently searched because of her former
boarders who were selling drugs outside and not in her residence claimed
that Brutus proudly told people in the area that he is close to and a text
mate of Colombino.

Colombino said the operatives directed their civilian to conduct a test-buy
and reported the presence of the husband and wife drug pushers.

But when they arrived, the duo already transferred to another house, so
they served in the present residence of the couple even as they searched
the former boarding house because the two still had some belongings there.

Another house owner in the area claimed that some operatives searched her
house but found nothing.

As there were allegedly some used aluminum foil and other drug
paraphernalia in a garbage box between her house and another house, the
operatives allegedly picked them up and scattered them on their dining
table and took pictures.

Decano, a former intelligence operative but now supervisor of the police
community precinct along Arellano Street, denied the allegation saying that
they are willing to answer charges in court should a formal complaint be filed.