In December 2002, right before Christmas, my friends and I decided to hit the mall. I was in charge of organizing the trip, so I texted everyone to meet outside Allen's house at 3 p.m. Allen was one of our most talented friends, but he was also financially strapped. Picture this: his wardrobe consisted of holey shirts, mismatched colorful slippers, and he was often the target of jokes about being the "most dangerous man alive." Despite the jokes, he was a great guy.
On that drizzly day, I showed up at Allen's place at 2:30 p.m., eager to be punctual. By 3 p.m., the gang had assembled outside his house with umbrellas and caps, and we set off for Gaisano Mall, the only mall in town at the time. Since we were a band that frequently played there, it was our go-to spot.
When we arrived at the mall, a massive "Big Sale" sign caught our attention, leading us into the department store. Gaisano Mall was just one floor, but the department store had a maze of sections. Charles, Sho, and DO headed to the music shirts section, while Allen and I explored the special offers, which had shirts for both men and women.
Allen, ever the gentleman, ended up near the ladies' section because he was trying to catch the eye of a beautiful girl shopping nearby. While distracted by her, Allen noticed the girl had accidentally left her wallet behind. He even waited for about five minutes thinking that the woman would return. But she has not. Thinking he could be a hero, he grabbed the wallet and dashed out of the store to find her.
Unfortunately, Allen had forgotten to pay for the two shirts he was carrying on his shoulder. As he ran out, two security officers started chasing him. To make matters worse, he bumped into the girl he was trying to help. He happily handed her the wallet, but instead of gratitude, she yelled that Allen was a thief. She demanded that the security officers detain him and call the police.
Allen was dragged to the department store’s stage area, which, of course, was packed with people who knew him from our band performances. Chief of Police Harold Quezon, along with the mall supervisor, approached Allen. The chief gave him a punch to the stomach and accused him of being behind recent mall robberies. Allen was told to confess to avoid more trouble. So my question was, where is the due process? Is this a type of police brutality? What do you think?
Meanwhile, my friends and I were still inside the Department Store, unaware of the drama unfolding. We learned from the staff that a thief had been caught, and we even joked that, "it's good for that person to have been caught. He should be imprisoned and punished". When we left the department store, we were very shocked and silent. We only knew something was wrong when we saw Allen handcuffed, sweating, and crying on the floor outside. We stayed quiet, observed and thought not to intervene first so as not wanting to make things worse.
Furthermore, the Chief of Police finally decided to take Allen to the police station. I said, Allen is a good person and quiet, but at that time, for the first time, I saw him screaming, crying and trying to stop the police from leaving the mall. In front of the crowd, Allen was dragged out to the police mobile at the Mall entrance. He was pulled while sitting on the floor and forced to stand up when he was outside to move to the police car. I decided to accompany Allen to ride in the back of the police mobile so that he could have a troop with him and at least relieve the pressure on his body.
Finally, when we arrived at the police station, Allen was immediately investigated and instead of giving his own account, the inspector told him to claim all the past robberies at the Mall and that he was the mastermind. Allen was so sudden that he just kept quiet and nodded to finish. After taking his picture, he was about to be sent to the cell. Crying, begging our troops to call his family to help him.
The police escorted Allen on his way to the cell and were about to let him in, and it was really good that his brother suddenly came to him, saying, Brother, Wake up. It's already noon time.. Wake up! Allen immediately woke up and searched the room for the police.
Thanks to his brother's timely intervention, if it wasn't for him, by chance, he would have been in jail.
