QCPD traffic personnel in hot water

Personnel from the Quezon City Police District Traffic Sector 4 in Kamuning Station are facing raps after Atty. Raymond Fortun — acting as a concerned citizen — has filed a case with the Quezon City People's Law Enforcement Board over the weekend in relation to the viral gun-toting incident last 8 August.

Fortun filed the charges against P/Staff Sergeant Darwin Peralta, P/SSg. Joel Aviso and P/Executive Master Sergeant Armando Carr, all from the QCPD Traffic Sector 4 of Kamuning.

The lawyer charged them with Oppression, Irregularities in the Performance of Duties and Incompetence, under Rule 21 of the National Police Commission Memorandum Circular 2016-002.

In a statement, the lawyer said that it appeared that the cyclist and ex-policeman Wilfredo Gonzales were first brought to the QCPD Kamuning Police Station 11, since the incident was first considered as a mere traffic incident by the first responders of QCPD Galas Police Station.

Eventually, no charges were filed in Kamuning, and the parties were instead referred to the Galas Police Station late in the evening.

"Despite the clear and imbalanced status of the parties, the same police officers failed to protect the rights of the cyclist when they failed to provide a legal counsel for him so that the latter would be duly appraised of his rights," Fortun said.

"Further, they failed to secure the CCTV footage in the area in order to ferret out the real facts in the conflicting statements made by the parties. Finally, and for reasons known only to them, and despite there being sufficient basis to do so, the same police officers failed to file the appropriate charges," he added.

Meantime, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte lauded Fortun's actions, saying that what the city needs now are little acts of heroism from ordinary Filipinos to stand up for what is right to exact accountability from those in power.

"This move of Atty. Fortun in filing a case with our PLEB is a vote of confidence that here in Quezon City, we will get things done. The proper process in the proper forum, which is the PLEB, will now take its course," Belmonte said.

In other developments, Senator Francis Tolentino disclosed on Sunday that Gonzales did not return his retirement pay despite being ordered such by the Philippine National Police.

In a radio interview, Tolentino said Gonzalez did not return his separation pay after being dismissed from service in 2018.

"He was ordered to return his separation pay by the PNP. Until now, he has yet to return it," Tolentino said. "When he was dismissed, he had already collected it. He has retired already. He was asked to return it but he has yet to return it."

Gonzales, who was caught in the now-deleted viral road rage incident physically assaulting and brandishing a gun at an unarmed cyclist near Welcome Rotanda, Quezon City on 8 August, was able to receive his retirement benefits for two years.

According to the PNP, Gonzales was charged with an administrative case after being involved in grave misconduct in 2006. However, he reached the PNP's compulsory retirement age of 56 in 2016 before the case was resolved in 2018.

For Tolentino, this action was a deliberate move by Gonzales not to follow PNP.