A police sergeant is now being investigated after he was accused of indiscriminately firing his handgun following a heated argument with a drinking buddy in New Lucena, Iloilo, an official of the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Saturday.
Police Col. Roger James Brillantes, director of the PNP-IAS in Western Visayas, said part of the investigation is to determine if Police Staff Sgt. Agar Octaviano violated the quarantine protocol since policemen are prohibited from engaging in activities that may violate minimum health safety standard to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“We immediately deployed our team to conduct an investigation and to determine the possible lapses on the part of this police personnel,” said Brillantes.
Based on the result of the initial investigation, Octaviano was having a drinking session with friends in Barangay Bita-og, Gaja, New Lucena Thursday when he engaged in a heated argument with a certain Andy Sumido.
At the height of the verbal tussle, the policeman allegedly drew his firearm and fired several times. In his defense, Octaviano said he was forced to fire a gun to prevent being mobbed by the group of Sumido.
But Brillantes said the IAS team is interviewing several witnesses to shed light on what really happened. And should lapses be established, Brillantes said they would immediately initiate administrative cases against the police sergeant.
“Our focus on this case is based on the order from the NHQ (National Headquarters, Camp Crame) to ensure that we do our part in ensuring that PNP personnel on the ground are behaving properly,” said Brillantes.
IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo had earlier ordered all IAS regional directors to be active in monitoring PNP personnel on the ground.
“Please advise your personnel conducting red teaming especially in urban areas to let the public know of our efforts in exacting discipline and accountability of policemen in their area,” said Triambulo.
The concept of red teaming has been implemented in the PNP in the past years to monitor misbehavior or any illegal activities of policemen on the ground. Red teams composed of policemen are being deployed in the field to check on the activities of policemen and talk with the people in the community to identify erring cops.