Año defends cop in Dasmarinas Village incident

April 28, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday said the police officer involved in a heated argument with a foreigner inside Dasmarinas Village in Makati City “did his job well”.

In a TV interview, Año said as the chairman of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), Police Senior Master Sergeant Roland Von Madrona handled the situation ''by the book.''

“He did everything by the book. You know I'm the chairman of Napolcom and I dismissed more than 2,000 police officers for various offenses and abuses of authority. I won't let any policeman to abuse and use his position to hurt others," he said.

Año said he will defend the police officer, who based on the video circulated online, experienced verbal abuse from the foreigner.

"In this case, our policeman, Police Senior Master Sergeant Madrona, I will defend him… he did his job well,” Año said.

The incident went viral after a video circulated online where a police officer was seen “violently” arresting a foreign national later named Javier Salvador Parra inside his residence at Dasmarinas Village.

But it turned out it is allegedly the second part of the whole incident where the person being arrested was first shouted at the police officer who were inspecting the area.

Police chanced upon a maid watering  plants outside a home and not wearing a face mask, which is a violation of a Makati ordinance.

According to Año, the police officer going inside the foreigner’s property is not a violation of police protocols.

"If you look at the video, they're not inside the property. They were on the streets....Doing the arrest, they went in front of the house. It's allowed by law, it's called hot pursuit... even if the guy went inside the house, if you're arresting somebody, you're allowed by law," he explained.

The Makati police filed charges against the foreigner but according to them they will leave it to the decision of the barangay officials if the maid will also be charged as she violated the city ordinance.

In a radio interview, Police Major Gideon Ines, Makati Assistant Chief of Police for Operations, said they are coordinating with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines regarding the incident and checking if the suspect has police records. Ella Dionisio/DMS