Proof of hazing 'strong,' regional PNP chief says

MANILA, Philippines - There is "probable cause" to file administrative and criminal charges against police officers and instructors involved in a hazing incident in Negros Occidental last Nov. 1, Western Visayas regional police head Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas said. Online news site Visayan Daily Star (www.visayandailystar.com) reported that Cuevas described the evidence against the officers and trainers as "strong." "The pieces of evidence available against them are strong," Cuevas said, citing the hematoma and contusions in the legs, buttocks and thighs of the SCOUT trainees. He was referring to the tactical officers and instructors of the 6th Regional Mobile Group, allegedly involved in the maltreatment of 51 policemen and women in the Special Counter-Insurgency Course Training at Camp Aniceto Lacson in Victorias City, Negros Occidental. Now under investigation are Insp. Stephen Somosot and Dianne Grace Aquitania; and Police Officers 1 Cherryl Lacson, Jean Hiponia, Annie Rose Tupas, Ma. Lowelyn Moises, Marife Cantomayo, Rhea Basa, Rhia Onate and Rowena Pimentel. "Tradition or not tradition, we are not allowing it. They should not be subjected to inhuman treatment," Cuevas said, referring to the hazing. He said the 51 police trainees, 22 of them women, had contusions and hematoma in their bodies following beatings by their instructors and trainers. Days after the start of SCOUT training, PO1 Tristan Lopez died, allegedly of a heat stroke, making him the second casualty since 2005, police records show. Cuevas said the tactical officers and instructors are fully aware that hazing is not allowed. Yet, he added, they continue to practice it. If not for the unannounced medical examinations of the trainees, even before reports of maltreatment reached media attention, the situation could have gotten worse, he added. The alleged hazing took place on Nov. 1 at the 6th RMG headquarters in Victorias City while the Group Director, Supt. Remus Zacharias Canieso, was in Boracay for "a special mission." In 2006, three RMG police instructors were suspended for several months for inflicting injuries on neophyte policemen taking up the same course at the camp. - GMANews.TV