‘Bodyguard’ cop accused of gun poking over petty resto row
A policeman hugged the headlines over a petty argument at a restaurant at Ybiernas St., Iloilo City early morning yesterday.
Reports claimed that PO2 George Sermonia poked his gun at the employees of Luis Linaga-an after serving them a different food.
Sermonia is an organic member of the Iloilo City Police Station 1 but is on detail service with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) VI.
He was allegedly rendering security service to Kenneth Chua, a scion of a prominent family in Iloilo City. It was not yet confirmed if it was on an official capacity.
According to reports, Police Station 1 received a call at around 2:30 a.m.
“The phone call did not detail what happened. We just received a call for police assistance because of an ongoing commotion,” said Police Station 1 commander Senior Insp. Federico Silvestre.
The station chief did not elaborate further what happened claiming that Sermonia and the complainants – the employees and the restaurant owner – came to an amicable settlement hours after the incident.
But reports claimed that Sermonia was irked after the waiter served him and his “boss,” Chua, a food different from what they ordered.
Aside from Chua, Sermonia was with four other persons.
The cop was accused of gun poking, on top of physical maltreatment made by his group against the restaurant employees.
Reports claimed that responding tanod commander and Brgy. Capt. Navarro of Ybiernas St. also got a taste of the alleged arrogance of Sermonia who told the former: “Maano kamo di?!”
Meanwhile, yesterday morning, PNP Regional Director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas said that an investigation should be made surrounding the incident.
He claimed that he would refer the incident to the Regional Internal Affairs Service (RIAS) for a possible “moto propio” investigation.
He also wanted to know the legal authority behind Sermonia’s alleged rendering of security service to Chua.
Meanwhile, Silvestre claimed that Sermonia has been on detail service to the CIDU-6 for seven months already.
“If he is indeed on a security detail, it’s an arrangement with the CIDU,” he added.
