‘I SAW IT ALL’

CCTV operator says shopper was beaten up by mall security officer
He was almost charged as the lone “fall guy” in the violent death of a young man mistaken for being a shoplifter in a mall.
Jeffrey Aquino, the operator of the closed-circuit TV camera in the store, is ready to tell investigators what really happened on April 12 when 23-year-old Mario Alfie Ducayag was brought into the security office of Gaisano Metro-Colon, said his lawyer Salvador Solima.
The lawyer said Aquino is willing to cooperate in the inquiry by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and testify if the case goes to court.
“All the suspects in (Mario Alfie) Ducayag's death should be investigated. No one should be singled out. If my client will be used as a state witness, then much better,” Solima told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
Aquino was arrested by Cebu City police last Sunday and was released the next day. The victim's family, fearing a weak case was deliberately being filed, blocked the filing of the case against Aquino before the Cebu City Prosecutors Office in order to head off a possible dismissal of the case.
Aquino, who said he handcuffed the 23-year-old Ducayag, said he saw how the victim suffered in the hands of the mall's chief security officer, Mauricio Doblados Jr. last Aprli 12.
“Gisumbag ni Doblados ang dughan ni Ducayag sa tulo ka higayon. Pagka-igo niya, nadakdak si Ducayag. Pagkatumba ni Ducayag, niingon si Doblados 'inartista ra na iya',” he told Cebu Daily News.
(Doblados punched Ducayag three times in the chest. When Ducayag fell down, Doblados said he was just pretending.)
Aquino said the chief security officer then went out of the security office to meet a relative. When he went back and saw the victim still lying unconscious, Doblados allegedly remarked: “Wala pa diay na nimata?” (Isn’t he awake yet?) Doblados then allegedly looked for a club to hit the 23-year-old man, who was earlier unable to show a receipt for a pair of sandals he had bought.
“Niingon siya, 'asa to ang akong bunal?' Unya gikuha niya ang panit sa dako nga wire og gibunalan niya sa dughan si Ducayag. Full-blast gyud, sa lima ka higayon,” Aquino said. (Doblados was looking for his club. He saw an electric cord and hit Ducayag on the chest five times. It was done with full force.)
Aquino said the chief security officer later asked him to call the company nurse. Aquino said he and the other guards did not maul the young man.
The CCTV operator said his participation was just to handcuff Ducayag and to call the nurse.
“I'm willing to testify,” he said.
According to Aquino, it’s been a practice of the mall's security guards to beat up suspected shoplifters.
“Naay uban nga masumbagan gyud kay arogante man,” he said. (There are some persons accused of shoplifting who were mauled because they were arrogant.)
Earlier, Metro Gaisano spokesman Cerwin Eviota said the management would cooperate with the investigation to know the truth about what happened, and that the standing order of the vice president for security, Victor Garcia, has always been to treat suspected shoplifters humanely.
Aquino, meanwhile, clarified that he and the other security guards involved in the recent case were not suspended, just transferred to other branches of Metro Gaisano. Aquino said police arrested him at Gaisano Metro-Colon last Sunday before he could report to his new station.
Solima, his lawyer, said his client was illegally arrested but had no plans to file charges against the police for the warrantless arrest.
DISAPPOINTED
The Ducayag family is discussing with their counsel what action to take against the police.
Mary Shantylle Ducayag yesterday said her mother, Fe Soledad, pleaded with the police not to file any case yet against Aquino since the Sunday arrest had several loopholes. “Are they (police) trying to make a fool of us? I thought they were gentlemen but they have no word of honor,” Marie Shantylle told reporters.
The police earlier promised not to file charges against Aquino as requested by the family, only to bring him to the Cebu City Prosecutors' Office last Monday afternoon. Tipped off about the move, Ducayag's family went to the prosecutor's office to stop the police from filing a complaint
Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, head of the Cebu City Police Criminal Investigation Branch, said it was Cebu City Police Office director, Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el, who ordered them to file the charges.
Natu-el said they arrested Aquino on the basis of the sworn statements of Doblados and security guard Melvin Boyles.
The family plans to also file charges against Dr. Nestor Sator, medico-legal officer of the PNP, after his autopsy report on the cause of death as “asphyxia due to pulmonary tuberculosis” was contradicted by an NBI autopsy that attributed the death to “traumatic neck injury” and noted a collapsed lung and body bruises.
She said they will ask the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) to revoke the license of Sator, who’s been practising for about 20 years.
“It's not that we do not have trust in the police. But the NBI already conducted a deeper investigation of the case. We leave it to the NBI. And besides, why did the police just came in now,” she added. Ducayag's mother Fe Soledad said all she wants is justice for her son. Solima and other lawyers questioned the police for making a warrantless arrest of Aquino.
“It's seems that Martial Law is back. My client was simply invited and then he was detained. At least Aquino was released but what the police did has left an indelible stain on the way they conduct an investigation. They should learn their lesson,” Solima said.
Lawyer Democrito Barcenas, former president of the IBP Cebu City chapter, criticized the police for conducting a “haphazard investigation” and making a “mockery” of the criminal justice system.
“It's clear that there was no proper investigation and arrest made of Aquino. The arrest didn't fall under a hot pursuit operation but it was a cold pursuit operation,” he added and should have required a court warrant.
Barcenas said Sator, the PNP medico-legal officer, should also be investigated. “There were bruises found on the victim's body and yet Sator said Ducayag died a natural death? I believe there was a foul play. The victim died because of the brutal handling of the security guards,” he said.
Barcenas lauded Ducayag's family for being persistent with their quest for justice and said he was glad the family did not accept a settlement.
NBI Central Visayas director Antonio Pagatpat said he will call for a conference with the police.
“In order not to prejudice the result, let's not conduct the investgation in haste. We should make sure that this will end in the conviction of those who are responsible for Ducayag's death,” he told reporters.
Pagatpat said they will welcome whatever evidence the police will entrust to the NBI. “We have identified the suspects,” he said but declined to give more details. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter with Tweeny Malinao and Chito Aragan and Silliman University intern Katrin Anne Arcala