|
Monday, January 26, 2004
2 top cops 'tried' to save bribe suspect
By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU -- Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Cecil Ezra Sandalo and former Vice Control Section (VCS) chief Marvin Sanchez will face summary dismissal proceedings beginning this week.
The National Police Commission (Napolcom) 7, in its preliminary investigation report, found probable cause to warrant an administrative case of grave misconduct and serious irregularity in the performance of duty against the two officers.
This sprang from a report that Sandalo and Sanchez signed a pre-operations report in an attempt to cover up alleged extortion activities of then VCS policeman PO3 Paquito Monterroyo.
Sandalo declined to comment on the development, but said he will face the charges.
Lawyer Homer Cabaral, Napolcom 7 assistant director, told Sun.Star on Sunday that a hearing officer, lawyer Lolita Genovesa, has been designated to handle the case.
According to Cabaral, Sandalo and Sanchez could face dismissal from police service if slapped the maximum penalty.
Took advantage
A moderate penalty for the offense is either a demotion in rank or forced resignation.
The minimum penalty for the offense is suspension from three months to one year.
"This does not mean that they are already dismissed. They have the chance to present their defense in the hearing. They still have (to undergo) due process," Cabaral clarified.
Cabaral said lawyer Maximo Lasaca, who conducted the preliminary investigation, cited Sandalo's "taking advantage of his position as city director" as an aggravating circumstance, and so recommended that summary dismissal proceedings be held.
Monterroyo was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 in an entrapment last August after allegedly extorting P300,000 from trader Mino Disomundeg.
Wrong dates
Monterroyo denied he was extorting money from the trader and insisted he was in Lapu-Lapu City to build up a case against him.
Monterroyo said Disomundeg set him up, saying the VCS could produce a pre-operations (pre-ops) report proving his claims.
The NBI 7 found a discrepancy in the CCPO's pre-ops report because its effectivity date was retroactive.
A photocopied pre-ops obtained by the NBI 7 showed it was prepared on Aug. 12, the day when NBI 7 agents entrapped Monterroyo outside the Gaisano Mactan mall for allegedly extorting P300,000 from Disomundeg.
The same pre-ops report, however, showed that its effectivity began on Aug. 5 yet and ended on Aug. 12, the same date when the CCPO had made it.
NBI 7 Director Reynaldo Esmeralda considered this anomalous and abnormal because the duration of pre-ops must begin on the date it was prepared and end on a specific future date.
Esmeralda then submitted a report to Cabaral, who ordered an investigation.
(January 26, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
 |
| click
to comment on this article or discuss it with other readers |
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
