v11n0203

The mere recordkeeping mentality stems from an attitude
among police that complaints need not really be taken seriously.
The family of Lourdes Rubrico (Story 80), an elderly activist who
was abducted by soldiers, was rebuffed without any investigation
of their complaint at all. Police Chief Superintendent Fidel Posadas
of the Cavite Provincial Police Office trivialized her case, labeling
Rubrico as an urban poor leader involved in a land scam as a
way to justify his police office’s inaction.
Even though people may know that the police will in a given
case do no more than record the complaint, they may still want
this much done. Rev. Fr. gilbert garcia, a colleague of slain Bishop
Alberto Ramento, repeatedly complained about the threats on his
life two months after Ramento was murdered (Story 50). The police
also kept on recording his complaints but neither investigated
adequately nor provided him with protection.
In some cases, police know that a person has been abducted
or killed but because the victim is someone who has in the past
been critical of the police or military forces, they refuse to get
involved. when gilbert Rey Cardiño (Story 71) was abducted, his
colleagues immediately went to police headquarters to ask for help
to locate him. The police had received reports that gilbert had
been abducted, but offered no help to locate him because he was
a known and vocal activist in his community. In another case, the
police also did nothing to locate Romualdo Balbuena (Story 73),
a man who was abducted in front of his wife inside their home.
his family reported his abduction to the police for assistance,
but they did not take action. They only recorded the details of
his abduction, but did not investigate. The victim’s family also
reported the case to the Commission on human Rights (ChR)
but it too did not inform the family of any progress on his case.
In other cases, evidence exists of police complicity in the very
abuses about which people are attempting to make complaints.
Take the case of Arnold Aliman (Story 70), a man who was
forcibly abducted at daytime in open view of the public. when
the witnesses and victim’s family went to police station to ask
for help, they found the vehicle used to abduct the victim parked
just outside the police investigation office. They reported it, but
no investigation was conducted. The police merely denied that the
car used in the abduction was the same car seen at their office.
Because of the callous and belittling manner with which police
treat complainants in serious cases, and because of their own
involvement in numbers of abductions, killings and other abuses,
people are forced to take matters into their own hands. In metro
manila, it is common to see handmade posters of disappeared
and missing persons in public places. They contain names,
photographs, address, dates of disappearance and the contact
numbers of family members. People put up fliers on their own
because police stations are not seen as places that a family can
go with any good effect in the effort to find lost loved ones. The
police do not keep systematic and adequate records of disappeared
and missing persons, because most of those whose details are
posted on public walls are not mentioned in the police records.
article 2 � June-Sept 2012 Vol. 11, No. 2-3
“
People put up
fliers on their own
because police
stations are not
seen as places that a
family can go with
any good effect in
the effort to find lost
loved ones.
9
”
Posters of disappeared
and missing persons in
public places in Manila.
Photo: AHRC