By Martin Sadongdong
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) officially took custody of Arnold Padilla, the businessman who was caught in a viral video after apparently harassing traffic enforcers, on Monday midnight.
Suspect Arnold Padilla has been moved to Camp Bagong Diwa from Camp Crame General Hospital Tuesday before dawn. (Jun Ryan Arañas / MANILA BULLETIN)
Padilla was transferred from the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital in Camp Crame, Quezon City to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City around 12 midnight, according to NCRPO chief Director Guillermo Eleazar.
Elements of the NCRPO-Regional Special Operations Unit (RSOU) escorted Padilla out of the police hospital after doctors released his clean bill of health and laboratory results showing that his blood pressure has already normalized.
However, minutes before he was about to be transferred, Padilla claimed that his blood pressure shoot up so doctors gave him medicines, which police later found that he did not take in.
Chief Insp. Paterno Domondon, NCRPO-RSOU deputy director, said it must have been Padilla's strategy to refuse taking in medicine that doctors were giving him for his blood pressure not to stabilize.
Meanwhile, PNP spokesperson, Senior Supt. Benigno Durana said they are treating all suspects as equal while assuring no special treatment will be given to the arrested trader.
"Definitely we enforce the law without fear or favor. There is no high and mighty. We want to make sure that we can secure him properly so we admitted him to the PNP hospital and probably not enjoy the comfort of a top notch facility," Durana said.
Mental disorder
However, Padilla's camp slammed his arrest after one of his four counsels claimed he has an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental disorder where an individual have unwanted and repeated thought or behavior of doing something.
Lawyer Virgillo Batalla, one of Padilla's counsels, urged police to admit his client to an appropriate facility as a standard operating procedure (SOP) for him to be given further medical attention.
However, Padilla's transfer to Camp Bagong Diwa was finalized and he was brought to the office of the NCRPO-RSOU investigation unit.
NCRPO-RSOU raided Padilla's house in Makati City on August 24 where they found an unlicensed shotgun, a caliber .45 pistol and two grenades. He was charged for violating Republic Act 10591 or illegal possession of firearms and RA 9516 or illegal possession of explosives, a nonbailable offense.
When he was placed under arrest during the raid, Padilla claimed his blood pressure spiked so he was sent to a private hospital where he stayed for several days for medical attention.
It was only on Sunday that he was transferred to the PNP General Hospital after the results of his angiogram showed that he has no heart ailments.
Padilla was previously shown in a viral video apparently harassing traffic enforcers in Makati City after he was flagged down for beating the red light. However, Eleazar clarified that the raid on his house was based on a previous complaint that he was armed with unlicensed guns.
He also has over 30 complaints of harassment from his neighbors, according to Eleazar.