Fiscals junk gun possession case vs. ex-CITOM head

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Prosecutors Office cleared former City Traffic Operations Management executive director Dennis Jabonero from charges of illegal possession of firearm and for alleged violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban.

In a two-page order, city prosecutor chief Nicolas Sellon said he agrees with the findings of Prosecutor Eulogio Borres that there is no probable cause to indict Jabonero to the charges.

Sellon said there is a missing link in the evidence presented by the arresting police officers that would have connected Jabonero to the firearm, which was recovered from a garbage can near him.

In their affidavit, the arresting policemen reportedly did not admit that Jabonero was the owner of the gun and if he was the one who threw the said firearm into the garbage can.

Jabonero, in his counter affidavit, had denied the accusations, saying he was not the owner of the revolver. He said he was just sitting with a group of young men at Bliss Housing in Barangay Labangon who scampered away upon seeing the policemen in area.

The policemen then found a gun inside a garbage bag behind Jabonero and later accused him to be the owner.

Based on the police blotter, Jabonero’s wife Rosita called the Punta Princesa Police Station two nights before the incident and reported that her husband had a .38 caliber revolver gun with five live rounds.

The police then proceeded to the area and arrested the suspect. Jabonero, 56, is working at City Hall assigned to the Office of the Vice Mayor. (FREEMAN NEWS)