BY AARON RECUENCO
Remember Fabel Pineda?
She was the 15-year-old girl from Ilocos Sur who was gunned down a few hours after she lodged sex assault complaints against two policemen who allegedly molested her and raped her 18-year old cousin after they were accosted for curfew violation two months ago.
The administrative case that stemmed from the complaint of Fabella was dismissed by the regional Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of Police Regional Office 1 over what appears to be a technicality, that is, the affidavit for her complaint was not signed since she was murdered while on her way home from the Cabugao Police Station on July 2.
But Brig. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr., director of the Ilocos regional police, said Staff Sgts. Marawi Torda and Randy Ramos remain under their custody as there are still at least four administrative charges that are yet to be resolved.
While the Acts of Lasciviousness was dismissed, Azurin said the hearing on the administrative cases in connection with the death of Fabella, the rape of her cousin, the initial investigation which disclosed that Torda and Ramos were drunk while on duty and their failure to turn over the two victims to proper authorities after they were accosted for curfew violation, are still on-going.
“In as much as that we want that all of these administrative cases are resolved as soon as possible, we are constrained by the legal procedures wherein these two policemen must be accorded with due process. That’s what taking the resolution of these cases long,” Azurin said in a phone interview.
On July 2, Fabella and her 18-year old cousin were on their way home after attending a party when they were accosted by Torda and Ramos for violation of the curfew. The two cops were then assigned to the San Juan Municipal Police Station.
Instead of following the procedures of turning them over at least in the police station, the two cops allegedly took them in a place where the 18-year old girl was raped while Fabella was molested. Fabella was able to escape.
The following day, she was accompanied by two relatives to file a case against the two cops at the adjacent Cabugao Municipal Police Station. They requested for police escorts on their way home but their request was allegedly ridiculed by some policemen on duty. The cops who received the complaint and who refused the request were already sacked from their posts and are now facing administrative charges.
On their way home, the motorcycle that Fabella and her two relatives were riding was deliberately hit by a van. Gunmen then went out of the van and repeatedly shot Fabella.
Aside from the dismissal of the case filed by Fabella, the wheels of justice for the separate criminal cases of murder and rape appear to be moving too slow as the Department of Justice (DoJ) has not yet acted on the charges more than two months after the charges were filed.
Azurin said the cases were filed before the DoJ main office in Manila by the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) in order to ensure that the criminal cases will not be influenced by the two local policemen, or any of their backers.
The relatives of the two victims, including the mother of Fabella who is an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), is yet to hear the progress of the case from the Justice department.
STILL RESTRICTED
Azurin said the two policemen are still under restrictive custody at the Regional Headquarters of the Police Regional Office 1 since the four remaining administrative cases are yet to be resolved, what with the motions filed by the two policemen.
It was Torda who was accused by Fabella as the one who molested her. Ramos, on the other hand, was accused of raping Fabella’s 18-year old cousin.
It was the case of Acts of Lasciviousness filed by Fabella against Torda which was dismissed for lack of substantial evidence, according to Azurin.
Ramos, on the other hand, was already ordered dismissed but he reportedly appealed the decision through a motion for reconsideration.
Under the PNP rules, the resolution of administrative cases must be done within 90 days after the case was filed. (Aaron Recuenco)
