Appellate court affirms dismissal of Luneta hostage taker
Friday, December 23, 2011
THE Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the decision of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who dismissed a veteran cop from service but later held hostage a busload of tourists and killed eight Hong Kong nationals at the Luneta Park in Manila last year.
Penned by Associate Justice Francisco Acosta, the CA’s Thirteenth Division junked the petition for review filed by petitioners Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, Police Inspector Nelson Lagasca, Senior Police Officer 1 Nestor David, Police Officer 3 Wilson Gavino, and Police Officer 2 Roderick Lopeña.
Concurring were Associate Justices Magdangal De Leon and Angelita Gacutan.
Mendoza, who was killed during the crossfire with policemen, was relieved from his post last year when he extorted P20,000 and forced a chef to swallow shabu, a powerfully-addictive stimulant.
Asking for immediate reinstatement, Mendoza then held hostage some 25 passengers in August 23, 2010 as victims sustained gunshot wounds in the head, neck, and other parts of the body after he went berserk.
The bullet-riddled Hong Tai bus is currently stowed at a warehouse in the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
The CA said that “it can well be inferred from the records that the petitioners tried to extort money from (complainant Christian) Kalaw by virtue of their position as police officers and thus, constitute grave misconduct.”
The court added that the Office of the Ombudsman was correct in its ruling last February 16, 2009 that Mendoza and their men should be delisted from the PNP roster.
“Besides, questions remain unanswered: We could not understand why the petitioners extendedly kept or detained Kalaw in the police station when the purported basis was just a mere traffic violation, i.e., illegal parking and/or driving without required license; and why the petitioners put so much attention on Kalaw’s alleged traffic violations when primarily it is their job to apprehend traffic violators in the City of Manila,” the 19-page decision stated.
In a decision two years ago, Mendoza and four others were denied to receive retirement benefits after the Office of the Ombudsman found them guilty of grave misconduct for allegedly extorting money from Kalaw.
Kalaw said that he was apprehended by policemen on April 9, 2008 in Manila for illegal parking, driving without license, and use of illegal drugs.
Kalaw, a chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati City, said he parked his car along Vito Cruz and was accosted by Mendoza and four others.
Mendoza and his men reportedly tried to extort P20,000 from him at the headquarters of the Mobile Patrol Unit of the Manila Police District (MPD).
But Kalaw refused as this allegedly forced the policemen to have him swallow a sachet full of shabu.
Mendoza was slapped with administrative charges on April 25, 2008 and at the same time sacked as head of the Manila Police District’s (MPD) Mobile Patrol Unit.
The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on October 17, 2008 recommended the dismissal of the case when Kalaw did not attend the three consecutive proceedings.
The case eventually reached before the Ombudsman which rendered its decision on February 16, 2009.
The anti-graft body on September 1, 2010 denied the petitioners’ motion for reconsideration. The case was then elevated before CA.
Under the Rules of Procedure of the Office of the Ombudsman, the CA said that “the Ombudsman is allowed to render decisions in administrative disciplinary cases solely on the basis of the evidence on record, without the need of any formal hearing.”
“It is not, in general terms, bound by the technical niceties of procedure in courts of law. Thus, as long as the Ombudsman has observed fairness in its proceedings, just like in the instant case, the same must be upheld,” the appellate court said. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
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