Thursday, June 07, 2007 Not guilty - plea of ex-cop on charge of keeping firearm
FORMER policeman Arnulfo Pigon Jr. pleaded not guilty to a malversation of government property case filed against him.
Pigon entered his plea during an arraignment at 8:30 a.m. yesterday at the sala of Judge Ulric Cañete of the Regional Trial Court Branch 55 in Mandaue City.
The preliminary conference of the case was scheduled at 2 p.m. on June 29, while the pre-trial was set on the afternoon of July 24.
Fiscal Bienvenido Mabanto of the Mandaue City Prosecutor’s Office and Graft Investigator Gaudioso Melendez represented the prosecution during yesterday’s arraignment.
Pigon’s lawyer Escolas-tico Daitol initially moved to defer the arraignment and filed a motion for reinvestigation of his client’s case.
Subpoena
He said that Pigon never received a subpoena to submit a counter-affidavit on why he failed to turn over his government-issued 9mm Berreta firearm, which resulted in the filing of the case before the Office of the Ombudsman for the Military.
Daitol said the service firearm “still exists” and Pigon is willing to return it.
Judge Cañete, however, denied Daitol’s motion.
The arraignment was also scheduled yesterday upon Pigon’s earlier request, so that he could fly back to the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila, where he is under protective custody.
Pigon, in an interview before the arraignment started, said he did not bring with him the firearm because the gun ban is still on.
He said that a female cousin, a police official assigned at the Cebu City Police Office, will go with him to Manila to get the firearm and turn it over to the court.
Murder complaint
Pigon, 29, is facing a separate complaint of murder before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office on the shooting of Sta. Fe mayoral aspirant Rogelio Ilustrisimo Sr. last May 2. It is still under preliminary investigation.
Pigon said he received a copy of the subpoena last Tuesday, giving him 10 days to submit his counter-affidavit on the murder complaint.
Pigon, though, is hoping that the petition he filed for the Department of Justice to conduct the preliminary investigation will be granted.
Pigon has denied the allegation and claimed he is a victim of mistaken identity. (JST)
