Javier Salvador Parra will face charges filed by the police for the altercation he was in last Sunday inside gated community Dasmariñas Village, where trying to evade a fine, he got into a heated argument with a police officer.
Makati Police chief Colonel Rogelio Simon on Tuesday, Apr. 28 said they will be filing charges against the Spanish national including unjust vexation, direct assault, disobedience to authority, and violation of Republic Act No. 11332 (Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act) and Makati Ordinance 2000-089, which requires residents to wear masks outside.
[READ: Can you be arrested for not wearing a mask outdoors within your property? Makati police thinks so]The incident on Sunday began after Parra’s household staff informed her boss that she will be charged P1,000 for not wearing a mask while watering their plants, which infuriated Parra and led him to confront the police officers who came to their house to inform them of the violation.
A video of Parra being held to the ground and forcibly being arrested first circulated on a day after the incident after he reached out to news outlet Rappler saying he was nearly arrested without a warrant and dragged to the ground despite his spinal condition.
Within hours, the policemen’s version of the incident captured in another video surfaced. It shows Parra and an officer in fatigues, which was identified as Police Senior Master Sergeant Roland Voni Madrona in a heated argument moments before the attempted arrest. The foreigner can be seen hurling expletives and intimidating the policeman, who can be heard repeatedly saying “you are shouting at me.”
Deportation
Senator Panfilo Lacson was the first lawmaker to publicly react to the incident prompting the Bureau of Immigration to look into the matter and “if a deportation proceeding is in order, they should act swiftly and decisively.”
Lacson, who also headed the Philippine National Police prior to being a senator, said “Arrogance has no place in our country—especially so in a situation where either all of us win, or all of us lose to the COVID-19 threat.”
Ang yabang Bro. Dapat i-deport na yan kaagad. Kung hindi, mamaliitin na lang mga pulis natin. Hindi tama yan.
— Sherwin Gatchalian (@stgatchalian) April 28, 2020
Meanwhile, on Twitter, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian replying to former Senator JV Ejercito said, “Ang yabang Bro. Dapat i-deport na yan kaagad. Kung hindi, mamaliitin na lang mga pulis natin. Hindi tama yan.”
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente citing a section of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which Parra is said to have violated, said in a statement: “The ECQ guidelines were placed to promote public health and safety among members of the society. That means everyone, including foreign nationals. Aliens who disregard the law may face deportation.”
“Aliens who blatantly disregard our laws, especially during this critical period, [will] not only face criminal charges but also immigration deportation cases as well. If deported, alien offenders will be perpetually barred from returning to the country,” said Morente.
Header photo screenshot from video courtesy of Makati Police
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Writer: CHRISTIAN SAN JOSE
