Court clears policeman of poll violation raps

The court yesterday acquitted a policeman accused of violating election laws for carrying his firearm without securing a gun ban exemption and for acting as bodyguard to a private person without prior permission from the Commission on Elections during the election period in 2002.

Regional Trial Court judge Ramon Codilla, Jr. acquitted SP01 Danilo Barriga after the prosecution failed to prove that the accused violated Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code.

Barriga was caught by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation while he was accompanying arrastre operator George Dajao when the latter was attending the hearing of his case at the Palace of Justice building here on July 19, 2002 or four days after the barangay elections.

When he was accosted by the NBI agents outside the court, Barriga who was in plain clothes was found to have possessed a handgun without a special permit from the Comelec.

It was then NBI regional director Florencio Villarin who complained against Barriga for reportedly acting as bodyguard to Dajao who was charged by Villarin with a criminal case before the court.

The Comelec’s Firearms and Security Committee certified that Barriga was not among those who were granted special permit to carry guns during the election period for the 2002 barangay polls.

The law provided that policemen and soldiers, not in proper police or military uniforms, are not allowed to carry guns.

But Barriga explained that while at the police station on the evening of July 18, 2002, they received an alarm on the strafing of the house of the Bacolod family in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City which prompted them to respond even if they weren’t in proper police uniform.

While waiting for a ride home the following morning, Dajao who is reportedly a relative of Barriga passed by and offered him a ride but asked the policeman to accompany him to a court hearing of his case.

“This explains the fact that Barriga was in civilian clothes when he was apprehended. This court finds that it would be the height of injustice for the accused to be held responsible for bringing his service firearm with him when the police officer’s station does not even have an armory for its members to store their service firearms,” Codilla said.

The court cannot even give credence to the testimony of Villarin that the presence of Barriga outside the courtroom was due to the fact that he acted as bodyguard of Dajao and was a moonlighting policeman, Codilla added. – Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV