PNP official beats up student at Camp Crame

MANILA, Philippines — A police official is accused of beating up a 19-year-old student at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Fred Ivan Fernandez alleged that Chief Inspector Zyrus Michael Serrano, who is assigned at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), punched him in the stomach and kicked his left foot twice during an altercation at around 12:45 a.m. on March 5 at the parking area of a condominium building at the police camp.

An entry in the police blotter of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) said a complaint of physical injury was filed against Serrano before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office on March 8.

CIDG spokesman Superintendent Joselito Brioso said yesterday Serrano is deployed at their field office in Rizal province.

Fernandez told probers he was with a male companion at the sidewalk of the parking lot when Serrano arrived in a Toyota Fortuner.

The victim claimed the police official “haphazardly” parked his vehicle and almost hit his companion, who was seated on the curb.

Serrano, whom Fernandez said was drunk, alighted from the vehicle and shouted: “Hoy taga-saan kayo (Where are you from)?”

When he responded they were residents of the condominium, the police official allegedly told them to leave.

When they left, Fernandez said Serrano followed them and without provocation, punched him once in the stomach.

A bystander who witnessed the incident intervened but Serrano pushed him away. The police official then kicked the victim twice before he left the scene.