NBI arrests deputized LTO agents for ‘harassment’

Friday, May 26, 2006
Sun Star

OPERATIVES of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday arrested nine deputized Land Transportation Office agents who allegedly harassed a female motorist for a traffic code violation. The deputized agents were operating along Osmeña Blvd., flagging down vehicles and checking for violations, when taken into custody. Complainant Katherine Araneta-Alemania, a medical representative, was among those whose vehicle they flagged down. The LTO agents said she committed three violations. The LTO deputies, in an interview at the NBI headquarters, decried the manner of their arrest as overkill and said the NBI operatives were all armed, some with handguns already drawn, while taking them into custody. “We were treated like common criminals when we are just helping a government agency,” said deputized agent Balbino Guerrero, who was arrested along with LTO agents Gervise Teodosio, Expedito Iroc, Filomeno Lim Jr., Alejandro Palarisan, Jose Rommel Ongtanco, Joseph Ryan Go, Arnold Chua and Johnny Baladjay. Convoy The NBI operatives were returning from an operation in Lapu-Lapu City when their convoy passed by Osmeña Blvd. and spotted a woman crying, said lawyer Ermie Monsanto, an NBI supervising agent. “We decided to stop and ask what was going on. When she narrated what had happened, we approached the (deputized agents) and asked if they had an organic operative with them. When they said there was none, we took them into custody,” he said. But Lawyer Vicente Gador, LTO 7 legal officer, said the deputized agents “don’t have to be accompanied by organic personnel” in enforcing traffic laws. “These deputized agents are merely enforcing administrative laws within Republic Act 4136, the Traffic Code,” said Gador, who went to the NBI headquarters immediately after being informed of the apprehension. Monsanto confirmed having frisked the deputized agents while taking them into custody, but explained his was standard practice of all law enforcement units, as all arrestees are presumed hostile and are to be checked. Charges Monsanto said they will file criminal charges against the deputized agents based on the narration of the complainant. The bureau, Monsanto said, will also look into the validity of the authority granted to the deputized agents. In her affidavit, Alemania said she was “harassed” by the deputized agents. she narrated she was driving her black Honda City sedan on her way to a hospital, when she was flagged down along the regional Department of Health office. She said an agent approached and told her she committed a violation by using an unauthorized plastic license plate. Another agent asked for his drivers’ license and vehicle registration, and told her she committed a second violation—failing to put on her registration renewal sticker on the plate. She also committed a third violation—driving a company car with a non-professional drivers’ license. While she was still reasoning with the deputized agents, somebody told her to detach the unauthorized plate from the back of her car and install the standard plate. She asked for assistance but none of the LTO agents helped. She tried to remove the plate herself, when a man helped her. It was while she was standing in the middle of the road and in tears that the NBI agents passed by and asked what happened. At the NBI office, Gador assured the complainant that the LTO will check whatever infractions his deputized committed. (KNR)