MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted a Manila Police District (MPD) official caught on video torturing an arrested robbery suspect in March last year.
In a 24-page resolution released yesterday, the DOJ approved the filing of charges of torture resulting to death under the new Republic Act 9745 (Anti-Torture Act of 2009) against Senior Inspector Joselito Binayug and six others for the death of inmate Darius Evangelista in a precinct in Tondo, Manila.
Also charged before the Manila trial court were Rogelio Rosales Jr., former station commander of MPD Station 11; SPO3 Joaquin de Guzman; SPO1 Rodolfo Ong; SPO1 Dante Bautista; PO1 Nonito Binayug and PO1 Rex Binayug.
DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima said this case is “significant since it’s the first case filed and resolved under the aegis of the anti-torture act.” In August last year, the National Capital Region Police Office filed charges before the DOJ against Binayug and the others police officers over what the police administration admitted was a case of “maltreatment of a robbery suspect.”
The entire force of Asuncion police community precinct was immediately relieved after ABS-CBN featured a cell phone video purportedly showing Binayug torturing the suspect while other policemen watched.
In the video, the victim was lying on the floor naked, with Binayug repeatedly pulling on a string attached to the victim’s genitals.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo cited the identification of the victim made by three inmates in the MPD Station 11 where Evangelista was first brought – Emmanuel Miranda, Sonny Lim and Renato Peralta.
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