JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla concurs that a charge for alarm and scandal may be lodged against a former police officer who exhibited and readied a firearm in the direction of a cyclist, even without the latter’s active involvement.
“It is plausible for the offense of alarm and scandal to apply even if the firearm wasn’t discharged but was instead aimed and readied. The cyclist’s absence of complaint is immaterial; individuals perturbed by the incident can instigate legal action, provided that the evidence they present is duly verified, appropriately recognized, and substantiated,” Remulla said.
“Furthermore, government entities have vested interests. The local government unit (LGU) of Quezon City expresses considerable intent to pursue a case, and we await Mayor Joy Belmonte’s initiation of appropriate measures,” he further added.
Earlier, the Department of Justice on released an official certification indicating that Wilfredo Gonzales, the former policeman involved in a recent traffic altercation with a cyclist, neither held nor currently holds any employment within the DOJ.
This move by the DOJ aims to dispel public conjecture linking Gonzales to the department.
A video clip now making rounds on social media showed the former police officer brandishing and cocking a pistol of still undetermined caliber to a cyclist.
The motorist was alleged to have recklessly intersected the cyclist’s path, subsequently resorting to physical aggression and brandishing a firearm—an act that constitutes a criminal offense under prevailing penal statutes.
