Court drops slander raps against cop

CEBU, Philippines - The Municipal Trial Court in Cities dismissed a criminal complaint for slander against a policeman for lack of evidence.

MTCC Branch 5 Judge Oscar Andrino has absolved SPO1 Eric Primo Alvarez of the crime of slander under Article 358 of the Revised Penal Code after the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to prove his guilt.

 “All told, the court finds the evidence presented by the prosecution as insufficient to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt and to hold him liable for the crime charges,” Andrino ruled.

Henrissa Mamaril, registrar of the Philippine Public Safety College in Barangay Apas, charged Alvarez in 2005 after the latter allegedly called her “insane”.

Mamaril said the accused went to her office sometime in September 2005 to ask why she released the clearances and certificates of completion of four new police graduates despite the absence of his signature in the documents and those of SPO4 Enrico Yutico and non-uniform personnel Ricarte Conag.

Mamaril explained that she only released the documents after Police Senior Inspector Eddie Recamara had willingly affixed his own signature over the names of the other signatories who were then unavailable.

The accused allegedly got irked and uttered defamatory statements against her.

However, Alvarez offered a contradictory version of what had happened during the alleged incident. The accused said it was Mamaril who called him names.

“In our criminal justice system, the overriding consideration is not whether the court doubts the innocence of the accused but whether it entertains a reasonable doubt as to his guilt. In order to convict an accused, the circumstances of the case must exclude all and every hypothesis consistent with his innocence,” the decision read. (FREEMAN)