4 narcs accused of groping girl

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Police District (MPD) yesterday relieved four anti-narcotics police officers accused of groping an 11-year-old girl during an operation in Sampaloc on Monday night.

MPD spokesman Superintendent Erwin Margarejo identified the operatives as Senior Police Officer 3 Rolando Morada Jr., SPO2 Camilo Maramag and Police Officers 1 Paolo Angelo Borbe and Lourenz Gorgon, all of the MPD Station 4 drug enforcement unit.

The sanction stemmed from the complaint of “Jennifer,” who accused the policemen of accosting her on March 12 as she was about to go to a store near her home and touching her buttocks as they frisked her in a dark alley. 

Closed-circuit television videos from Barangay 484 showed the policemen following the girl along a dark alley off Prudencio street at around 11 p.m.

The girl told investigators of the MPD women’s and children protection unit that she ran after seeing the policemen because she was afraid she would be detained for violating curfew.

“She was frisked and they touched her butt even if she already showed her empty pocket,” the girl’s mother said.

Margarejo said the policemen were relieved from their duties to give way to an impartial investigation, “but we are of the belief that there were procedural lapses.”

He said the frisking should have been done in the presence of barangay officials.

Margarejo, however, emphasized that the operatives will always “have the presumption of regularity in the performance of their duties” especially because the operation was authorized.

The policemen admitted that they frisked the girl but denied taking advantage of her.

Senior Inspector Philipp Ines, MPD Station 4 public information chief, said the operatives became suspicious because the girl was on the street so late at night.

A source, however, told The STAR that the family of the girl was under surveillance because her father was included in the drug watchlist.

“A brother of the girl is a suspected courier and one of her relatives had been arrested last week for illegal drugs,” the source, a police official, said.