I fully agree with my friend, Police Regional Office 4-A director, Brigadier General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. when he underscored the importance of subjecting arrested crime offenders to inquest proceedings and ensuring their prosecution to the hilt by giving solid testimonies in court.

This should really be the norm in the Philippine National Police which needs to make its officers and men realize that resorting to ‘ordinary filing’ of cases in court not only gives an injustice to victims but gives lawbreakers, especially the moneyed and influential ones, to bail themselves out of trouble without even experiencing a minute in jail.

The Calabarzon police chief—he is actually the last senior PNP official from Philippine Military Academy ‘Tanglaw-Diwa’ Class of 1992 who will retire from the force in 2027—told me he wants the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon Police Provincial Offices to do away, if possible, with the practice of ‘ordinary filing’ of cases in prosecutor’s offices and courts specifically when the matter involves heinous crimes like rape and murder.

“The greatest battle and accomplishments of police officers is thru inquest of arrested violators and continuing battle in court for conviction of the accused. My emphasis here in Calabarzon region is always the conduct of hot pursuit operations and subjecting suspects to inquest proceedings, particularly in every celebrated cases kung kaya pa,” the official told me.

Nartatez, ‘Tateng or Taten’ to many friends and peers’ is really right. Many officials have previously told me that in many instances, ‘regular filing’ of cases does not benefit the aggrieved parties unlike in inquest proceedings where prosecutors determine if there is probable cause to indict the accused and lock him up in jail.

In fact, lawbreakers fear the word ‘inquest’ while under custody of the police in PNP stations, headquarters and other offices. Just ask even violators of simple laws and ordinances like illegal gambling or drinking in public who were inquested before prosecutor’s offices and were forced to spent long hours in jail before being able to pay their fines.

‘Inquest’ is defined as an informal and summary investigation conducted by a public prosecutor in criminal cases involving persons arrested and detained without the benefit of a warrant of arrest issued by the court. The inquest serves to determine whether said persons should remain under custody and correspondingly be charged in court.

Many lawyer-friends have told me that because it is summary in nature and owing to the attendant risk of running against the reglementary periods under which detained persons must be delivered to the proper judicial authorities, an inquest usually ends with either the prompt filing of an information in court or the immediate release of the arrested person.

Brig. Gen. Nartatez issued the statement in the wake of the arrest of two suspects in a celebrated rape, robbery-holdup and physical injury cases in Lumban, Laguna last November 11.

Acting on information supplied by the two arrested suspects in the case involving two young students, local policemen have also arrested a notorious drug dealer in the province who was tagged by the jailed men as their shabu supplier.

Laguna Police Provincial Office director, Colonel Randy Glenn G. Silvio said that suspect Hector Llamanzares, tagged as the 5th most wanted drug personality in the province and his son Neil Ivan were arrested during a buy-bust operation in Bonifacio Street in Barangay Salac in Lumban municipality on Saturday.

“The sting was launched after the arrested rape suspect identified as Danilo Barimbad confessed that he bought 10 grams of shabu from one alias ‘Hector’ in Bgy. Salac and consumed part of the drugs with his three co-accused,” said the official who used to be the CIDG-NCR chief before he became the Laguna police director.

“Barimbad confessed that he and his cohorts sniffed shabu and drank liquor in his house before they committed the dastardly crime,” Silvio told me.A record check showed that Llamanzares has been arrested thrice before for drug-related offenses.

The Laguna police director said that Llamanzares and his son Neil Ivan, a ‘Bantay-Bayan’ member in their area were arrested while conspiring to sell P700 worth of shabu to an undercover officer. Recovered from the possession of the two were seven heat-sealed plastic sachets containing the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ and a marked P500 bill paid to them by a poseur.

The suspects will be facing charges for sale and possession of prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. In a twist of fate, the two have been reunited in jail with Barimbad and his co-accused in the rape, robbery-holdup and physical injury cases in Bgy. Caliraya and Bgy. Lewin in Lumban around 10:30 p.m. last November 11.

The victims were an 18-year old male student and his 17-year old female companion from Paete town. The two were beaten up by the suspects before the girl was raped.

The suspects later identified as Barimbad and Joseph de los Reyes have been arrested along with their live-in partners who are now facing charges for obstruction of justice. Barimbad was charged with robbery with rape and frustrated murder before the office of Laguna Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Rhonella Ulip-Layao.

The same suspect and delos Reyes were also charged with robbery-frustrated murder and violation of RA 9165 before the same prosecutor’s office. Their live-in partners identified as Arlene de Leon,40; and her sister Maria Rodelia,34, were charged for obstruction of justice.

All suspects have been inquested—not subjected to regular filing of case—as ordered by Brig. Gen. Nartatez. Congratulations are really in order for Col. Silvio and his team composed of members of the Lumban Municipal Police Station headed by Captain Ed Richard Pacana and Laguna PPO officials, Majors Jameson Aguilar, Merben Bryan Lago and Edison Ouano who conducted the follow-up operations in Bgys. Lewin and Caliraya which resulted in the arrest of the suspects. May your tribe really increase.