At around past midnight, we went to drop off my brother's son. Everything was fine, until we made a U-turn to go home. There was a checkpoint, and we stopped. Then we got pulled over. One cop was talking to my friend, the driver, and the other cop was making my brother, who was sitting behind me, come out of the car. With his window open, the cop just quickly shoved his hand inside the car and scrambled into my brother's pockets. My brother got out of the car and the cop wanted to search his pockets. To our surprise, my brother took out his wallet and cellphone, and found this small plastic with a white thing inside. Then the cop was asking him what it was and my brother started ranting that it wasn't his. My brother, who was getting agitated, suddenly swore at the cop and the cop got even more persistent, that he was saying,
"bakit ka nagmumura? Pare, nagmumura 'to!"
The cop was flinging the little white plastic and pretended to open it and search for the content while saying,
"RP 'to ah..RP 'to diba?! San galing 'to?"
First, it was suspicious enough that there was this little plastic inside my brother's pocket. Then when he said RP, which is Rolling Paper for short, I was shocked to see what was happening! My friend and I were shouting at my brother to get in the car, but the cop was holding him back. Why, in the first place, did the cop shove his hand in the car, and why did he make my brother come out of the car? I knew there was something fishy about it. So I looked straight hard at the cop who was holding my brother, while my brother was trying to get loose. When the cop was pretending to search the content of the little plastic, he pulled out the white thing, which was just a cotton ball. It was such a commotion, that two other cops arrived. When they arrived, the cop who was harassing my brother, flicked the little plastic back to my brother and I didn't see him after. The two new cops asked us,
"hinaharass ba kayo? Mga bago na yung mga police ngayon, at pwede natin tanggalin."
Somehow we felt relieved that the two cops arrived, but we didn't say anything to them that we were being harassed. We just didn't want the worse to happen. So we pretended that it was ok, but I knew my brother was traumatized. They let us go.
My question is...do they even have the right to poke their hand inside the car? Do they even have the right to make my brother get out of the car to search him? Don't you need a search warrant? I am aware that the cop can just visually search the car, but not insist on making any passenger get out. Why did the cop pretend that my brother had something? Why did he even plant that thing and threw it back to my brother when the two new cops arrived?
My brother was indeed harassed! I know that was wrong, but my perception of the police changed after that incident. I have the little plastic bag. It's an evidence, but we are not filing any reports. In the first place, I don't even know how to file a report on cases like this. I've heard many stories about cops like them, but I didn't expect it to happen to us! I know that there are bad cops, but there are also good ones who serve and protect righteously.
Why should these things happen? What kind of police are there in Quezon City? How do you know you're REALLY safe? How do you know when a cop is really a cop, when they are lying?
How horrible!!!
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