4 SWAT members ‘deployed’ to private event relieved — Pasig City police

The four members of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in Pasig City who were allegedly deployed to a private company event have been relieved from their posts amid the ongoing investigation, police said Thursday.

The order relieving the SWAT personnel was issued by the Pasig City Police. It was earlier alleged that the SWAT team was from Batangas.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos on Wednesday said the Philippine National Police (PNP) will investigate what was alleged as the supposed deployment of a SWAT Team from Batangas to a private event.

Based on the photos that reached his office, Abalos said the concerned SWAT personnel were in their uniforms with some of them carrying firearms.

"The DILG will not tolerate the deployment of our active police personnel as private escorts or for purely private purposes," Abalos said.

"Rest assured that, under my watch, our police force is and will remain laser-focused on their legal mandate to ensure peace and order," he added.

GMA News Online sought clarification from the Eastern Police District and DILG if the concerned SWAT personnel were assigned to Pasig City or Batangas.The EPD said the policemen are from Pasig City. However, Abalos said determining their exact posting is part of their investigation.

According to the EPD, which has Pasig City under its jurisdiction, the SWAT Team members “did not provide escort service to that event.”

In a statement, the EPD said the SWAT team members on June 22 were conducting a visibility patrol onboard a police vehicle in Barangay San Antonio and stopped in front of a bank.

A woman, later identified as an employee of a networking company, approached the mobile patrol and asked the SWAT Team members if they could join her workmates for a photograph at the soft launch event of her firm. The policemen granted her request for pictures that were taken in the lobby of a nearby building.

The statement said the members of the SWAT team were invited to the event venue on the 24th floor for snacks. The policemen declined since they needed to resume their mobile patrol, the EPD said.

Before leaving to continue their patrol, the team provided its contact number in case there is a need for police assistance or an emergency.

Without the policemen's knowledge and permission, the photos were share on the company's social media account that were then picked up by netizens.—RF, GMA Integrated News