You may not want to accept any invitation from the police. To all who gets invited in this way, you should be aware that the term became a favorite term when the Marcos military and police wants you to stay for an indeterminate period, without trial nor limit, in the safehouses and detention centers of the late dictator. This term survived the Marcos downfall and has become a euphemism for warrantless arrest by the police in situations where the legal basis for such does not exist.
It is so in the Trinidad Etong case. The QCPD invoked PD 1829 "PENALIZING OBSTRUCTION OF APPREHENSION AND PROSECUTION OF CRIMINAL OFFENDERS" as the basis for arresting Etong's sister, brother and other housemates without any warrant of arrest based on a filing of a case and a court order. There are two major problems in citing this presidential decree. One, this PD is already superseded by the 1987 constitution and the criminal code. It can also be argued that PDs such as these do not anymore apply today. Two, there is nothing in this decree that exempts it from the requirement of a warrant of arrest.
This situation opens the door not only for violation of the human rights of the QCPD arrestees but also for criminal prosecution of the concerned police operatives and their superiors on the charge of abuse of authority. We are now under the rule of law and not of the dictator!
(i) giving of false or fabricated information to mislead or prevent the law enforcement agencies from apprehending the offender or from protecting the life or property of the victim; or fabricating information from the data gathered in confidence by investigating authorities for purposes of background information and not for publication and publishing or disseminating the same to mislead the investigator or to the court.
Section 2. If any of the foregoing acts is committed by a public official or employee, he shall in addition to the penalties provided thereunder, suffer perpetual disqualification from holding public office.