‘Subdivisions cannot bar cops on legitimate operations’

MANILA, Philippines — Private subdivisions cannot close their gates to police officers conducting legitimate operations, according to a former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

Lawyer Domingo Egon Cayosa was reacting to reports that security guards of a subdivision prevented police officers from entering in order to apprehend the owner of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) that ran over a security guard in Mandaluyong on June 5.

The SUV driver was seen on a viral video speeding away from the scene.

Police officers went to Ayala Heights subdivision in Quezon City after Land Transportation Office (LTO) records showed the SUV’s registered owner, Jose Antonio Sanvicente, resided there.

In revoking Sanvicente’s driver’s license, the LTO said that the SUV driver and owner are the same person.

“It is a puzzle why the police authorities allowed themselves to be stopped by the subdivision guards... If it is a legitimate police operation or investigation, private subdivisions cannot close their gates,” he said in an interview with “The Chiefs” on OneNews.

He noted that it “need not be a hot pursuit” for police to enter a private subdivision.

“The police officers, there is a live case, it is within your responsibility or power to investigate. Anybody who obstructs that without a valid or legal reason, he opens himself to charges of obstruction of justice,” Cayosa said.

The Mandaluyong police filed charges of obstruction of justice against security guards Jay-ar Gonzales, Gerald Paningbatan and Nixon Palogan before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office on June 8.

On June 9, the Ayala Heights Village Association issued a letter to its residents saying that AHVA and its security force were “wrongfully accused of obstructing the legal process.”

The AHVA board said investigators first arrived at the subdivision at around 4:50 a.m. on June 6, hours after the incident.

“Since the investigating team was not in ‘hot pursuit’ and merely wanted to talk to the vehicle owner, they were requested by our guards to just wait for daylight,” it said.

Instead of waiting, the AHVA board said the policemen just left a note containing names and telephone numbers for the SUV owner.

The police officers returned at around 7:30 p.m. and asked if they could view footage from the closed-circuit television camera at the subdivision gate from the time of the incident.

The AHVA board said the policemen “at no time... (requested) entry and access to the residence of the concerned resident. They also did not seek to interview the resident.”

The AHVA board said the footage showed the SUV involved in the incident never entered the subdivision.