SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga -- A policeman is in hot water for releasing a man who allegedly tried to stab Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio. The policeman could be liable for serious neglect of duty.
Chief Supt. Errol T. Pan, Region 3 police director, said SPO4 Alejandro Datuin of the San Fernando police station has been placed under restriction by his superior, Senior Supt. Keith Ernald Singian.
It was reported that Panlilio was being interviewed by media people after he launched the "White Ribbon Campaign for Good Governance" at the flag raising ceremony in the capitol last week when the alleged incident occurred. SPO3 Juan Dimatulac, one of Gov. Panlilio’s close-in security personnel, grabbed Rafael Monterey Enriquez, 30, as he approached the governor from behind.
Enriquez was reportedly holding a knife. Singian told Pan that Datuin immediately released the suspect without informing the chief investigator, saying there was a serious lapse in the handling of the case. Policemen had to rush to the house of the suspect in Sta. Lucia where he was again arrested.
This caused the ire of General Pan and Colonel Singian. Enriquez said he was just trying to get a cigarette from his clutch bag, but the knife was in the way so he had to hold it. Later in the day, Kathryn Enriquez, the suspect’s mother, arrived at the provincial capitol to intercede for his son.
She was accompanied by Provincial Police Director Keith Singian and San Fernando City Police Director Audie Atienza. Ms Enriquez said his son was suffering from schizophrenia, adding that her son was in the capitol to follow up the processing of a land title. Notwithstanding the claim of Ms Enriquez, PPO Director Singian said Enriquez will be charged with possession of concealed weapon and violation of the ban on the carrying of deadly weapons.
However, the disposition on the case will depend on a certification of a proper authority regarding the mental state of the suspect. Enriquez will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for evaluation. Governor Panlilio said he will wait for the official findings of the psychiatric evaluation of the suspect.
However, he instructed Provincial Legal Officer Aisa Velez to conduct a thorough study on the case. Security personnel of Panlilio said they held the 30-year old suspect who brought out a fan knife while approaching Panlilio behind at the lobby of the provincial capitol building here at about 8:30 a.m.
Earlier, local police said Enriquez was released before noon after an investigation disclosed he was suffering from mental illness and had apparently no intention to harm Panlilio.
Witness Leslie Manalo, a reporter from the local television station Infomax, said Enriquez, who was wearing slippers and a basketball uniform, earlier approached her at the capitol to ask how he could have an audience with Panlilio to seek his help. “I told him to wait until the flag ceremony was over and that there were personnel at the second floor in charge of attending to the needs of the people. He said he was from Macabebe,” Manalo said.
After the flag ceremony, Manalo was interviewing Panlilio at the lobby when she noticed Eusebio approach Panlilio’s back. “About two feet from the governor, I saw the man bring out a fan knife from a pouch, but I did not know how to react,” she recalled.
Panlilio’s alert security aides, however, held the man, and brought him to the local police station for investigation.
The governor ceased wearing a bulletproof vest which he wore during the campaign period last May elections amid threats to his life.
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