(Eagle News) — Senator Bam Aquino is seeking a Senate probe into the government’s policy against loiterers, following the death of Genesis Argoncillo while he was detained at the Novaliches police station.
According to Aquino, Argoncillo would not have died if not for the “polisiya na nakatarget ang mahihirap.”
“There is a need to assess whether the (Philippine National Police’s) anti-tambay campaign, as well as the local ordinances on which they are supposedly based, are consistent with national laws and the Constitution,” Aquino said.
He noted that in the case of Argoncillo, “maraming mga detalye na hindi tumutugma.”
For instance, he said the PNP “issued different statements regarding (his) death.”
“First, it claimed that it was due to self-inflicted trauma, then (it) change (sic) it to suffocation due to the severe congestion of prison cells,” Aquino said.
He said after Argoncillo’s death certificate “revealed that he died from multiple blunt force trauma to his neck, head, chest and upper extremities, the QCPD claimed that he died after he was mauled by fellow inmates.”
“Pumunta lang sa tindahan, inaresto dahil hindi nakaT-shirt. Ngayon, nakaburol na. Napakasakit nito para sa pamilya ng biktima at sa ating bansa,” Aquino said.
He also noted that there were some who claimed that they were arrested while waiting outside the gate of a friend’s house in Makati, and a shirtless man who was “accosted in front of his house by roving police seconds after he stepped out of the door in Novaliches,” based on footage from a closed-circuit television camera.
Aquino said the man, Ariel Morco, was “not arrested but was ordered to clean the bathroom of the police station.”
“Halos lahat ng mga naaresto ay mga mahirap at ang mga operasyon ay ginagawa sa mahihirap na komunidad. Tama na po ang pagpapahirap sa mga mahihirap,” Aquino said.
The police has denied they were arresting loiterers, noting only those who were violating ordinances and other laws were nabbed.
According to PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde, only a “small” percentage of those who were caught were “charged and detained.”
He said many of them only received a warning and were told to pay fines.
