NAPOLCOM probes ‘high profile’ IMEG operation at Molo police station

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Investigators of the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) Region 6 have begun looking into the operation conducted by the Philippine National Police Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) at the Molo Police Station in Iloilo City on Wednesday afternoon, July 1.

NAPOLCOM 6 spokesperson Atty. Michelle Yotoko said the commission considers the incident high profile because both parties involved are police personnel.

“Nanaug gid kita direkta. NAPOLCOM has considered this a high profile incident,” [We went down there directly. NAPOLCOM has considered this a high profile incident,] Yotoko told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo.

Based on initial information, more than 20 IMEG members led by Police Lieutenant Colonel Ignacio M. Gamba III, head of the IMEG Visayas Field Unit, entered the Molo Police Station, also known as Iloilo City Police Station 4 (ICPS-4), shortly after 4 p.m. to search for a dismissed policeman who is allegedly wanted for murder.

Police Captain Ryan Christ Inot, chief of the Molo Police Station, confirmed that the IMEG team suddenly entered the station, ordered personnel to lie face down, disarmed them, and allegedly aimed firearms at them while checking the entire premises.

Inot said the IMEG members returned the confiscated firearms before leaving the station.

He added that station personnel were caught by surprise because no one had coordinated with them about any search operation in their station.

The IMEG team did not find the former policeman it was looking for.

A reporter of K5 News FM Iloilo, who went to the station after receiving a call at 4:31 p.m. from the ICPS-4 chief intelligence officer to witness what was described as a possible drug buy-bust operation, saw intelligence personnel lying face down while their service firearms and cellphones were confiscated.

The reporter also observed that uniformed ICPS-4 policemen were temporarily disarmed, and that armed PNP Special Action Force (SAF) personnel guarded the station perimeter in full view of passersby and motorists.

The reporter was blocked from parking his motorcycle by an armed SAF member and a man carrying a short firearm, which was allegedly pointed at him.

According to the same account, the IMEG members did not use body-worn cameras during the operation and recorded video using cellphones instead.

Yotoko said the NAPOLCOM regional office has directed its personnel to gather information on the incident.

She personally went to the Molo Police Station with a team of investigators, where Police Colonel Wilbert Parilla was also present.

“Sa amon nga bahin, this is a mandate on our part to verify, monitor and investigate the allege police anomalies and irregularities,” [On our part, this is a mandate on our part to verify, monitor and investigate the allege police anomalies and irregularities,] Yotoko said.

Yotoko said it is too early to determine what actually transpired and who may have committed lapses.

“We will cover the entire incidents. Not only Molo Police Station but also IMEG,” she said.

The IMEG, created in 2018, is the PNP’s internal cleansing unit tasked with monitoring and arresting police personnel involved in illegal activities.

NAPOLCOM exercises administrative control and operational supervision over the PNP under Republic Act No. 6975, as amended by Republic Act No. 8551.

The Supreme Court’s 2021 rules on body-worn cameras require police officers to use the devices when serving arrest and search warrants, a point that may figure in the investigation given the reported absence of body cameras during the operation.