MANILA, Philippines – National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Major General Guillermo Eleazar said they are standing their ground against Quezon City mayoral candidate and incumbent congressman Bingbong Crisologo.

“The good congressman humiliated, insulted, and even minura ang ating pulis (shouted expletives at our police),” Eleazar said on Monday, May 13, during Rappler’s #PHVote live coverage.

“Kapag naka-uniporme ka tapos lalait-laitin ka, mura-murahin ka, eh para namang kalokohan na papayag ka na gano’n gagawin [sa iyo],” he added.

(When you’re in uniform and you’re on the receiving end of insults and curses, it’s foolish to just accept that.)

Crisologo was arrested on Sunday night, May 12, after he allegedly attempted to block authorities from arresting his supporters accused of vote buying. He was released the afternoon of election day.

Police, who did not have a search warrant, also arrested more than 40 of Crisologo’s supporters but seized only P800.

“For the congressman to have prevented our police from doing their job, there must be a compelling reason for him to do that,” Eleazar said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Crisologo is planning to file a complaint against the cops for his “illegal arrest.” According to him, the police failed to read his rights and he was not told about the charges he would face.

Eleazar said they are investigating Crisologo’s claim of an unlawful arrest. 

“Meron tayong pinaglalaban, meron rin sila (We’re fighting for our side, they have theirs),” he said. “We have [the] appropriate forum to assess that and we leave it to the prosecutor to assess this.”

Crisologo is the mayoral candidate under ruling party PDP-Laban. He is facing incumbent Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte who is running with the Serbisyo sa Bayan Party. – Rappler.com