Davao-based columnist Margarita Valle on Thursday, July 4, has sued the officials of Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Army (PA) over her “mistaken” arrest last month in Misamis Oriental.
In her 20-page complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, Valle accused these officials of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, violation of Anti-Torture Act, gross misconduct, among others.
Those who were charged include PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde, PNP Spokesman Colonel Bernard Banac, Brigadier General Jacinto Bareng of the 1st Infantry Division of the PA, and 53rd Infantry Battalion Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Marlowe Patria.
“It cannot be denied that respondents Bareng, Patria, Banac, and Albayalde are the superiors of those involved in my torture and that they knew or had reason to know that I was about to be or had been tortured,” the columnist said in her complaint.
Valle was arrested on June 9 at Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental on the basis of an arrest warrant for multiple murder with quadruple frustrated murder, destruction of government property, and arson. She was released later that day after the cops realized that they mistook Valle for Elsa Renton, an alleged communist party member.
“This caused me distress, anxiety, and fear for I don’t know this Elsa Renton and it seemed to me that they were really out to convict me,” Valle said.
The PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) has earlier apologized to Valle for the “negative experience” she had with its personnel.
[READ: CIDG issues apology over columnist Margarita Valle’s wrongful arrest]
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), meanwhile, had condemned Valle’s “abduction and the CIDG’s violation of her basic rights,” demanding that the police and military personnel involved in her mistaken arrest and detention be “prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of law.”