Police, drug enforcers file appeal on Bongco case

AFTER the release of Angelo Bongco from the custody of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) through the legal department of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) filed a motion of reconsideration before the Office of Department of Justice Manila last Monday.

BCPO director Ricardo De la Paz said on Thursday that when the City Prosecutor's Office was recently ordered by DOJ to release Bongco from the custody of BJMP, BCPO immediately coordinated with the PDEA national office to inform them of the release of the suspect and asked their assistance.

Recently, the DOJ issued a resolution was signed by Undersecretary Francisco Barran III in favor of the petition of Bongco's family where the City Prosecutor's Office was ordered to withdraw the information filed in court for violation of Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165 against the suspect.

Bongco, 40, a contractor of Henrietta Heights, Bacolod City was arrested last year in an entrapment operation by operatives of City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group (CAIDSOTG) and the PDEA national office at Las Palmas Del Mar Resort, Barangay Singcang-Airport when he sold to the police poseur buyer 617 tablets of ecstasy drugs in exchange of P500,000.

Police recovered a total of 717 tablets of ecstasy in the possession of Bongco. After his apprehension he was subjected in inquest proceeding and was remitted to the BJMP while the case is on-going.

Senior Superintendent de la Paz said while the suspect was detained at the BJMP, the family of Bongco filed a petition for review in DOJ, alleging that the police have no bases, evidence or probable cause to continue the said case.

He said they believed that the DOJ committed an error in issuing the said resolution to withdraw the information filed in court against Bongco.

He added that based on the findings of the DOJ, the police failed to properly preserve the evidence and questioned the chain of custody of the seized dangerous drugs and that the evidence was only planted.

De la Paz said the DOJ also questioned the police poseur-buyer used in the operation.

He said in their motion of reconsideration, they explained and justified that the chain of custody of the seized dangerous drugs was properly and clearly preserved, the pieces of evidence are not planted, and the fact that the poseur-buyer is the officer-in-charge of the BCPO is irrelevant and not fatal.

The city director believed and prayed that the DOJ will reconsider their earlier findings.