CALLING the case "election-related" and a form of "political harassment,” the National Police Commission (Napolcom) upheld its earlier decision to dismiss a police captain and five other policemen in Negros Occidental.
The dismissal of Police Captain Allan Reloj was in connection to an incident on December 19, 2017, where then Moises Padilla Vice Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo and her husband Felix Mathias Feria Yulo were arrested.
The implementation order dated March 4, 2022 and signed by Atty. Chito Bustonera, acting staff service chief for Napolcom’s Legal Affairs Service, said Reloj and Master Sergeants Ricardo Campos Digcong Jr., Corporals Nobel Perante and Felix Pesales Jr., and Patrolmen Michael Mondido and Darryl Dormido were culpable for grave misconduct and grave irregularities in the performance of duty.
Napolcom added that their dismissal from the service is in view of the presence of aggravating circumstances of being found guilty of two or more charges or counts.
Garcia-Yulo’s camp alleged that the policemen were conducting an illegal checkpoint, performing unlawful arrest and performing illegal search and seizure of the vehicle of the couple.
She was then challenging former Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña in the 2019 elections.
In defense, Reloj and the five other cops claimed that the checkpoint they conducted complied with a memorandum issued by then Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office Director Police Colonel Rodolfo Castil to establish border control checkpoints due to terror threats coming from the New People's Army.
The respondents claimed that Felix Yulo was acting suspicious, which is why they flagged down the couple's vehicle. When Reloj went to the driver's side of the vehicle, he claimed that Felix had a handgun on his lap prompting the police to order him to step out of the vehicle.
Reloj then claimed that the husband of the former vice mayor, who is now the town’s mayor, started screaming at him and alighted from the vehicle before berating him.
He further said he was assaulted by the vice mayor.
During the arrest, a .45 caliber pistol was recovered from Garcia-Yulo’s husband.
A search of the vehicle also led to the recovery of another firearm of the same caliber with ammunition, two hand grenades, and two sachets of suspected shabu.
The couple was later charged with illegal possession of firearms, and explosives, as well as possession of illegal drugs.
The couple maintained that they did not do anything wrong, the policemen were conducting the checkpoint in their civilian clothes, and the barangay tanods who joined the checkpoint were carrying firearms.
With the policemen’s dismissal from service, their retirement benefits except for accrued leave credits were forfeited.
They are also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
They were dismissed from service as early as October 21, 2020 by Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary and Napolcom Chairman Eduardo Año, but they appealed.
Aside from Año, the dismissal document was also signed by Napolcom Vice Chairman and Executive Officer Atty. Rogelio Casurao, and Commissioners Felizardo Serapio Jr., Atty. Job Mangente, Zenonida Brosas, and Retired Police Gen. Camilo Cascolan.