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Prosecutor dismisses raps vs Batac dad

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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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