CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – An auto mechanic who owns a radiator shop in Mexico town is now languishing in jail after he was arrested on alleged trumped-up charges by the police on March 4.
In a complaint affidavit dated April 14, Darrel S. Cunanan accused seven persons including four policemen and a mediaman of conspiring together to charge him with drug pushing.
Cunanan said while he was driving a Mitsubishi L300 van at around 4 p.m. in Barangay San Isidro here, an owner type jeep blocked his way followed by three motorcycle riding men. Two men, whom he later identified as PO2 Jerome Flores and PO1 Jay Francis Talplacido, boarded his van and pointed a gun at him. He said he was forcibly transferred to another seat, his head covered with a hood.
According to his statement, Cunanan was brought to an undisclosed location where he was threatened and asked to come up with P300,000. Cunanan told the policemen he did not have such an amount and they agreed to lower it to half.
The amount was finally lowered to P100,000. But still, Cunanan said he did not have such an amount as he is only a radiator shop owner. This infuriated the policemen who began to torture him with waterboarding, forcing him to admit to drug pushing.
Cunanan said after almost six hours of torture, he begged the policemen to stop and said he would ask his wife for the money. At this point, Cunanan said he was allowed to call his wife.
He told her he was arrested by the police and he needed P100,000 so that he would not be incarcerated. He also told his wife that he was detained at the Compact 3 police station.
But Cunanan said his wife could only come up with P5,000 which made the policemen angry and told him that they would prepare the charges against him for drug pushing which is a non-bail able offense.
Cunanan said when his wife and his in-law went to see him at the police station the policemen again asked him if his wife was bringing the money. When he said no, the policemen again got angry and even told his wife that “patay na itong asawa mo pag wala kayong pera hindi na makakalabas ang asawa mo (your husband is dead if you have no money your husband won’t be able to go out).”
The police said Cunanan was nabbed in a drug buy-bust operation. The police report allegedly showed that Cunanan was arrested at 9:20 p.m. when he handed a plastic sachet containing shabu to an undercover policeman.
A P500 bill was also presented as evidenced which was allegedly handed to him by Sr. Insp. Protom E. Guevarra. When searched, the police said Cunanan yielded five more plastic sachets containing shabu in his pocket.
But Cunanan denied all their allegations. He said he was on an errand for his wife who sent him to buy milk and diapers for their baby. He was also asked by his wife to bring the L300 van, which is owned by his in-law, for repairs until he crossed paths with the police.
Aside from Flores, Talplacido and Guevarra, also included in the charge sheet for robbery, extortion, kidnapping, and incriminating innocent person among others were PO1 Eric Jayson M. Diaz, Department of Justice representative Ernesto R. Serrano, kagawad Eduardo C. Pineda and SunStar Pampanga reporter Jovi De Leon.
