ILOILO City – Use your guns only against criminals who would inflict harm on you and other people, not for anything else, the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) reminded its personnel.
A shooting incident in Oton, Iloilo which left a civilian wounded on Wednesday night involved a police officer.
“We should always have patience and be role models,” said PRO-6 spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong.
Around 6 p.m. on March 24, Police Corporal Marvin Seasol shot his 55-year-old neighbor, Normando Estrebor in Barangay Poblacion West, Oton.
“Kita ang nagapatuman sang peace and order. We are here to serve and protect the people, not to harm them,” said Malong.
Estrebor checked out who was pelting his house with stones that Wednesday night and saw his neighbor Seasol.
Seasol fired shots at Estrebor several times, according to Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, director of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO).
The victim sustained five gunshot wounds. He was rushed to the West Visayas State University Medical Center in La Paz district.
Seasol turned himself in to the Oton police station.
Authorities recovered a .9mm-caliber pistol from his possession.
A complaint for frustrated murder was filed against Seasol on March 26 at the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office through Assistant Prosecutor Ronel Sustituya.
Aside from the criminal case, Malong said, Seasol would also be facing an administrative charge.
“The Provincial Internal Affairs Service will be conducting an investigation to determine his specific offense,” Malong said.
“We keep on appealing to the public to report the irregularities of our police personnel. We are determined to cleanse our organization,” said Gorero.
Policemen should be paragons of discipline and vanguards of peace at all times, he stressed.
Seasol and Estrebor have not been on good terms for quite some time.
Estrebor previously filed three administrative charges against the policeman at the National Police Commission (Napolcom), said Director Joseph Celis./PN
