BAGUIO CITY – A police colonel, who was earlier reported to have been arrested for violating the anti-gambling policy of the Philippine National Police (PNP), clarified that there was no formal arrest that was done to him by personnel of the San Fernando City Police Office when they saw him inside a casino in the lowland city last Sunday.
Police Lt. Col. Armando Gapus, outgoing chief of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) police community relations branch, admitted that he entered the San Fernando-based casino upon the invitation of his close friends and that after a few hours inside, they already went out of the area to go back to Baguio City.
However, unknown to him, a number of personnel of the San Fernando City Police Office waited for him outside and politely invited him to first go to their office because of his supposed violation.
While inside the San Fernando City Police office in La Union, he was treated well by the assigned investigator and that he aired his side on the matter, recognizing his lapses in judgement over his entering the casino area amidst the prevailing anti-gambling policy of the PNP.
Gapus narrated that after a few hours inside the San Fernando City Police Office, he was eventually released, thus, there was no truth to earlier reports that he was arrested and detained.
“I recognize what could have been the lapse in judgement on my part and that I apologized for the said mistake,” Gapus stressed.
He claimed that he was released by the police personnel without the benefit of the administrative or criminal charges filed against him, thus, he branded earlier reports depicting him as having been arrested and charged as unfair and unfounded, saying that he will just have to wait for whatever action that will be undertaken by personnel of the San Fernando City Police Office on the matter.
Because of his alleged violation of an existing policy of the PNP, Gapus was initially relived from his post as BCPO PCR branch chief and will be assigned at the Police Regional Office – Cordillera personnel holding and accounting unit.
By Dexter A. See