Freedom and Death Inside the Jail.pdf - The Action Program for ...

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Freedom and Death Inside The Jail
6. Patong. Police officers file additional charges to make sure
the suspect rots in jail. In a homicide case, for example, if
the suspect used a gun, he will also be charged with illegal
possession of firearms. If the suspect used a false name in
his affidavit, he will be charged with illegal use of alias. If
he resisted arrest, he will be charged for “assaulting” an
officer. A tattoo found on the suspect’s body would earn
him another charge for violating the Anti-Tattoo Act. With
all these cases, the suspect is sure to stay behind bars even
if he gets acquitted of the case for which he was originally
arrested. The police, in connivance with the fiscal, will
also make sure that the cases will be raffled to different
courts to further delay the proceedings.
Panganganak ng kaso is a derivative of patong. Arrested
for kidnap-for-ransom, the suspect will also be charged
with three or more kidnap-for-ransom cases that were not
solved in the past. The original case, in other words, gives
birth to two or more cases. Or if the suspect is a member
of a particular group, say the Alex Buncayao Brigade,
he will be charged with all the unsolved cases that were
previously committed by the other members of ABB.
Pahabol takes place when the suspect is charged with two
cases. The police will concentrate on the first case. They
will exhaust all means to produce evidence against the
suspect. But if at the end of the trial they see the judge in
favor of the suspect, they will automatically pursue the
second case and build it up as they did the first.
7. Bribery. The amount involved in bribery depends on the
officer involved. The less powerful the officer, the lower
the amount. First in line is the barangay captain, then
the custodial officer, desk officers at the police station,
up to the station commander. Media personalities also
sometimes partake in this modus operandi; they threaten
to write about the case if the suspect does not give them
money.
Jail paralegal officers say that they find it difficult to keep a
profile of some inmates because, to begin with, they do not have
the correct data from police stations. It is quite common among
inmates to give arresting police officers a fictitious name. Consequently,
police reports that are sent to Quezon City Jail contain
fictitious data. This is particularly true among street children
who do not have birth certificates against which police officers
can verify their data.
Proof of the police’s inefficiency is their habit of turning over
to Quezon City Jail suspects who are below 18 years old and,