|
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Convicted, but he’ll still be a cop
Even after he was convicted of killing Cebu City Bantay Dagat Commission Project Director Elpidio “Jojo” dela Victoria, SPO1 Marcial Ocampo will remain a policeman, until orders are issued for his dismissal.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Silverio Alarcio Jr. said Ocampo will go through the process of summary dismissal.
A summary hearing officer will be assigned to hear the case and Ocampo will be given a chance to present his side.
After Ocampo’s conviction, the police are now working on identifying and arresting the two alleged accomplices and the mastermind in the murder of de la Victoria some five months ago.
Senior Supt. Jose Jorge Corpuz, regional officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7, told reporters yesterday that they have started the legwork on the investigation.
He said they are getting information that may help them find the mastermind and the two alleged accomplices of Ocampo.
Copuz admitted, however, that the information is general and they have yet to choose which of these leads will help in the investigation.
He also said that Regional Trial Court Judge Ireneo Gako’s decision to sentence Ocampo to spend 20 to 40 years in jail for the murder of de la Victoria “shows that the criminal justice is working by upholding the truth.”
Corpuz hopes that Ocampo will eventually decide to help in the investigation and reveal the mastermind.
For Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Vicente Loot, conviction in a criminal case means automatic dismissal from the service.
Loot said Ocampo’s conviction proved they did not make a mistake in arresting him.
“He’s not a police officer. Police character na siya para nako,” Loot said.
He further said that they had long received reports of Ocampo’s allegedly shady dealings and was glad that the PNP organization will be rid of “a scalawag.”
As for other misfits in the service, Loot said they had nothing to learn from Ocampo.
“Don’t follow in his footsteps whatever the consideration is,” he said.
When Ocampo was presented to the media a day after his arrest, police officials called him a “typical example of a police scalawag” because of his previous records with internal affairs and other investigating agencies.
Ocampo said, though, that his previous cases had already been settled. His family will appeal his conviction. (MEA/JST)
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
