It’s no secret that there are ruthless elements in the Philippine National Police who do a lot of things to further erode the already little amount of trust that the public has in the police force. Extortion from drivers is one case and the harassment of ordinary people to shake them off of their hard-earned money is commonplace. Most of us just shrug off these events as if they’ve gained their right to be included in the “facts of life” that we should all live with as Filipinos.
Of course, it changes when it hits home – literally, for Filipino Voices contributor JJ Domingo and his mother. While I cannot claim that I would feel the same amount of angst that a son would feel after hearing such a harrowing incident happened to his mother; my blood is absolutely boiling at this point. To push the figure of speech further, while it didn’t exactly hit home when I read this Facebook note about the incident; it definitely hit some part of a neighborhood near home. There was an immediate chilling effect that came with the realization that such a horrid act could happen to a mother of a friend – JJ is one of the better debaters of his generation and he’s also not bad as a political blogger especially when it came to geopolitics and international relations.
It would be best if you would read what JJ had to say about the whole incident in his blog. JJ’s mother is an overseas Filipino worker who is employed in Japan to give her family a decent living here in the country. She just came back here for a couple of weeks this month to attend the graduation ceremony of her daughter and to ask for another doctor’s opinion regarding the mild form of cancer that she was diagnosed with.
A friend of JJ’s mother “Janet” owed her some money so she decided to go their place – a slum area in Novaliches to collect the debt. What happened next literally read like it came from a really bad teleserye. Two plain-clothes officers proceeded to accuse JJ’s mother and her companion of going to the slums just to get their drug fix. They were verbally insulted and treated below the acceptable standards of the law. They were also denied the use of their cellular phones so that they could talk to their respective lawyers/ relatives in this very tough spot.
And then it happened – police officers ”Allan” and Mar Palic and of the chief of Police Station Number 3 in Barangay Talipapa, Novaliches, Quezon City proceeded to ask for monetary demands that started at a very high amount! JJ’s mother and companion resisted at first but the prospect of spending the rest of her stay in the Philippines behind bars was just too bear for Mrs. Domingo. They agreed upon an amount (it was 15 000 for JJ’s mom) and the crooks also took her cellular phone.
That was just an appalling display of how humanity has sunk so low. Even if we replace JJ’s mother and her companion with actual druggies, what happened would have been still wrong! Serious offense against laws on illegal detention and extortion have clearly been violated. The punishments for these crimes could easily send one to prison for a number of years.
Being a very loving and caring mom, Mrs. Domingo kept this scary and horrendous ordeal to herself until she got back to Japan. JJ only found out that her mother had to go through hell and back just get home from that seemingly nondescript visit to Novaliches.
It makes me angry that all I can do is to write this message and offer JJ words of encouragement. I have tried to do my part of posting this on my Twitter, Plurk and Facebook accounts so that others could see just how foul and unruly some elements of the police force could get. If it happened to a friend’s mom it could very well happen to another friend’s mother – or even to my own mom. The thought of it makes me want to do something.
As of the publishing of this story, it seems like no major news outfit has picked it up. This is a story that needs to be heard. Ordinary citizens should not be defenseless against the tyranny of those who sow fear by hiding behind their guns and badges. Thank you Rico Mossesgeld for posting it on your blog.
I haven’t been writing here in Filipino Voices but this is a story that all of us should know. I’m behind you JJ and I hope you and your mom get the justice that you so deserve. We should resist impunity at all fronts.
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Thank you very much for your support Benj. And thanks to my friends here on FV.
We will be pressing administrative charges. These cops should not stay a minute longer in their jobs. Good cops must make sure they outnumber these bad cops so people would have confidence to our police force.
Don’t forget there is a bigger snake scumbag in the story.
You think it was tsamba-tsamba that the extortionist cops showed up, or would you consider the possibility they were alerted that an OFW was going to visit that slum-area at a specific time?
You are right. Every citizen should be aware that the extortionists in police uniform can next target their friends or their relatives’ immediate friends.
Nothing surprising…it always happen in our good old country…
keep us posted!
Thank you for submitting this article.
This kind of harassment by our “public servant” (police officers) are to be expose, and posted. So that all, can read the rudeness of our judicial systems in our Filipino society really is.
It must stop, and this is one of the ways to be heard. Using Filipino Voices as a “Community,” (sharing our common interests, for our cause.)
Best regards to JJ’s family. I really do hope, they pursue this as an harassment case, against our civil system.
Any good, supportive Laywers out there…!
Isang side pa lang nga ng story yun eh. Nakuha nila pangalan ng mga police? Parang walang sense mang-extort kung wala ngang ebidensya. Usually naririning ko lang eh hulidap at may contraband talaga.
Are you surprise this happens in our country? It happens alll the time…
@BrianB,
Your right, these cop’s side must be heard as well. But I wonder what explanations would they give for inviting persons randomly and detaining them. We got their names. One was Mario Palic while the other goes only by the name Allan. They were from Station Number 3 of Barangay Talipapa, Novaliches, QC.Mike H is right, it seems they have an “informer” who alerts them when an outsider visits the area.
If some commenters on my blog who live near Talipapa is to be believed, the station is known for this modus operandi. They extort anyone who visists the slum area, which turned out to be indeed a haven for drug trafficking. Looks like instead of solving drug trafficking, they excacerbate it by soliciting bribes from the guilty ones. They probably didnt bother to plant evidence because they initially thought my mom was really there to buy drugs and so they merely planned to spook her into giving bribes thinking she would do so immediately. But then she’s not guilty so she refused.
@Equalizer, Im not surprised. I know this happens a lot. Like you, I shrug stories like these off as a sad fact of life in RP. But like what Benj said, that attitude changed when it hit home. When it happened to my mom. I realized that our attitude of just shrugging these abuses off as a sad fact of life is a cultural defect that actually emboldens the abusers (the victims wont bother with the hassle of complaining anyway) I hope this wont happen to your mom too.
Recently, there were news reports about extortion in Thailand.
At airport duty free, some sales clerks will slip in some merchandise,
and when the traveller leaves the store, the police will|”show up”
The arrested traveller gets thrown into jail, then negotiations.