By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Batac
City—City prosecutor Valentin Pascua Jr.
dismissed the complaint filed against city councilor Mary Coleen Columbia for “resistance
and disobedience to a person in authority for ignoring a Commission on
Elections checkpoint”.
The Batac police, headed by
P/Chief Insp. Allan Emerson D. Dauz filed the criminal case against Ms. Cajigal
for allegedly violating of Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code.
Under Comelec Resolution
10468 Section 8, it states: “Procedure in case a checkpoint is ignored. If a
person ignored the checkpoint, the commanding officer or team leader must
immediately report such incident to the adjacent teams/police stations stating
the particular details of the person evading the checkpoint. If necessary, the
team must immediately coordinate with such adjacent teams or stations in order
to establish road blocks in accordance with existing standard operating procedures
of the PNP under the PNP handbook”.
In relation to this, Mr. Pascua
said the Comelec Resolution does not impose any punishment or penalty in case a
checkpoint is ignored, although, it authorizes law enforcers to arrest any
person where there is apparent violation of the ban on firearms or other deadly
weapons and none of this made the respondent as criminal.
The decision also stated that,
“Ignoring a checkpoint is not a crime. It is not even considered a traffic
violation in the city” that when a police officer issued a city traffic
citation ticket for allegedly disregarding legitimate Comelec checkpoint is
improper.
That alleged violation is not
included as one of the traffic violations in the city.
The respondent also never
established disobedience to an order coming from Mr. Dauz and no scintilla of
evidence showing that Ms. Cajigal resisted arrest or physically attacked Mr. Dauz
and his men while they were in the performance of their official functions, the
decision added.
With that factual backdrop of
the case, the crime of resistance or disobedience of a person in authority was
never committed, it stressed further.
The decision also noted that
the two key elements of resistance and serious disobedience punished under Art.
151 of the Revised Penal Code are (1) That a person in authority or his agent
is engaged in the performance of official duty or gives a lawful order to the
offender; and (2) That the offender resists or seriously disobeys such person
or his agent.
Upon preliminary examination
of the evidence, there was no sufficient evidence to warrant a preliminary investigation
against the respondent. Hence, the instant case against Ms. Cajigal was
dismissed due to lack of probable cause.
Administrative case
The
Ilocos Times, however learned that an administrative
case was also filed at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan against Ms. Cajigal for the
same alleged violation.
The issue began when Ms.
Cajigal allegedly disregarded a Comelec checkpoint operation along Manila North
Road in the vicinity of Brgy. Caunayan, this city on March 15, 2019 at about
9:05 pm.
According to the police
report, despite a lawful order, the driver ignored the legitimate established
police checkpoint even it was in a well-lighted place with complete signage
manned by uniformed PNP personnel and led by a police commissioned officer, the
driver still attempted to pass through even though officers were manning the
checkpoint and continuously drove and stopped at the right west side of the
road.
Officer-in-charge Dauz went
to the vehicle and asked Ms. Cajigal why they disregarded the checkpoint that
later ensued into discussion and arguments, after which, Mr. Dauz asked Ms.
Cajigal to present her driver’s license, certificate of registration and official
receipt and was immediately given a city traffic citation for disregarding
Comelec Checkpoint but Ms. Cajigal refused to affix her signature.
Batac mayor reacts
Batac Mayor Albert D. Chua was also furnished a copy of the
resolution of dismissal.
Mr. Chua said he respects the
decision of the City Prosecutor’s Office because they also have their legal
basis.
As of press time, Mr. Chua
said that he has not yet received any copy coming from the provincial
government regarding the alleged administrative case against Ms. Cajigal filed by the Batac police.
Ready to answer
Ms. Cajigal, for her part, stressed that the City
Prosecutor’s Office has already issued the resolution and that is her official
statement.
Likewise, she also disclosed
that she has not yet received any copy yet of the alleged administrative case
filed against her. However, she said she is ready to answer the charges.
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