Eternal Gardens, the funeral and memorial care company of the Cabangon family, has called on the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police to investigate and hold accountable the police officers who allegedly ignored proper procedures, resulting in the warrantless arrest of two of its staff in Batangas City on October 13.
According to Eternal Gardens, the warrantless arrest began when a client complained about a missing marble marker on her property at Eternal Gardens.
The client was informed that the company would conduct an investigation and given assurance that Eternal Gardens would take the necessary action.
However, the client refused assistance from Eternal Gardens. Instead of cooperating and coordinating with the company, she brought police officers with her who took the two employees into custody. Under duress and without the presence of a lawyer, they were subjected to inquest proceedings.
The company informed the authorities that their legal team was on the way and requested the police to wait for them before taking any action.
“Eternal Gardens Management is deeply concerned about the manner in which our employees were treated throughout this ordeal. We are equally dismayed by the blatant abuse of authority when police authorities executed a warrantless arrest when the situation did not justify such action,” the company said in a statement.
“We also condemn the violation of the rights of our employees who were deprived of their rights to be represented by legal counsel during custodial investigation and the inquest,” it added.
Eternal Gardens said it would seek legal remedies to protect the rights of its employees.
