Hannah Mae Oray, the secretary of Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr., filed with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) charges against members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) - Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for the alleged harassment, stress and trauma she and her husband reportedly suffered during the raid conducted last March 10.
Oray was assisted by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, also Teves’ counsel, in the filing of the complaint on Monday, March 20.
Oray was one of six persons arrested during the raid conducted by PNP-CIGG in search of alleged firearms, ammunition, and explosives in the house of Teves.
The charges against Oray, however, has been dismissed by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Also, one of the eight charges against Teves for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosive had also been dismissed when it was filed for inquest before the DOJ.
In her complaint, Oray alleged that the PNP-CIDG did not follow established protocols in the implementation of the search warrant as they only showed her a photo of the warrant, which she claimed was difficult to read.
She also alleged that the law enforcers threatened to use force to enter, and warned household members not to take videos of the raid.
"Ang masama pa dito, bago kami umalis, inutusan mga miyembro ng CIDG ang lahat ng miyembro ng aming bahay na nasa garahe na kumuha ng mga videos sa ginanap na search na burahin ang mga videos sa kanilang mga cellphones (What's worse, before we left, members of the CIDG ordered all the members of our household who were in the garage and took videos of the search to delete the videos on their cellphones)," she said in the complaint.
She also said that they were asked to go to the police station but they were hesitant because she claimed no illegal firearms were found.
She alleged that when they were at the CIDG headquarters in Dumaguete City she was reportedly threatened with charges if she would refuse to cooperate.
"Sobrang takot po ang nararamdaman ko sa oras na iyon. Natatakot po kami ng asawa ko para po sa seguridad namin, (I felt so scared at that time. My husband and I were afraid for our safety)," she said.
She also alleged that her husband was also accused of being a "hitman," and all throughout their time at the CIDG office, they felt that their situation was hopeless.
"Ang mga ito ay matinding pang-aabuso sa kanilang kapangyarihan at paglabag sa karapatang pantao na lubhang nakakabahala at walang lugar sa ating lipunan, (These are gross abuses of their power and violations of human rights that are deeply disturbing and have no place in our society)," Oray alleged in her complaint.
It was not known as of posting time if the seven other charges against Teves and other respondents have been acted upon by the DOJ.