SENIOR Police Officer 1 Adonis Dumpit was set free yesterday after a year of serving his sentence.
Dumpit arrived in Cebu after he was released from Leyte Regional Penitentiary (LRP).
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Director General Ricardo Cruz III signed the release order of Dumpit last Wednesday and directed Supt. Geraldo Aro, head of LRP, to release the police officer.
This, after the camp of Dumpit paid the P250,000 bail required for his temporary freedom at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 in Abuyog, Leyte last week.
The 20th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) issued a resolution on the temporary release of Dumpit, given that he will pay the bail, appear in court whenever summoned and not leave the country while his appeal is pending.
Lawyers of Dumpit appealed before the CA the lower court’s decision convicting him.
Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña earlier said he was willing to shoulder the officer’s bail. Dumpit served as his bodyguard before he was jailed.
Two weeks ago, Osmeña posted on his Facebook account images of a CA resolution on the release, in time for Dumpit’s birthday.
Miguel Osmeña, son of the incoming mayor, flew to Tacloban yesterday to fetch Dumpit and bring him to Cebu.
“Adonis is in good spirits. We have filed our flight plan to Cebu and will be taking off shortly. Dumpit is coming home,” read the caption of Miguel on the photo of him and Dumpit in his father’s Facebook account.
The two along with some companions boarded a private plane en route to Cebu.
Lawyer Benjamin Militar, who serves as legal counsel of Dumpit, said the order to release his client was signed last Wednesday, but LRP required them to submit the regular copy.
That explains why the release of Dumpit was delayed for a day.
Dumpit was charged with murder for the shooting of robbery suspect Ronron Go last Dec. 14, 2004. But RTC Judge Ester Veloso downgraded the case to homicide in August last year.
Go allegedly robbed two jeepney passengers in the North Reclamation Area on that day. Dumpit responded to the alarm.
Dumpit was sentenced to serve time for six to nine years and to pay Go’s family P50,000.