Supreme Court orders cop to be reinstated

MANILA, Philippines - Dismissed policeman Reynaldo Roaquin did not have to mount a hostage taking to be reinstated in the police service after suffering the consequences of a murder charge filed against him in 1991 but for which he was later acquitted.

Roaquin opted to wait for the results of a long, tedious legal process and secured a ruling from the Supreme Court (SC) ordering his reinstatement and entitlement to back wages and all other benefits 12 years after he was acquitted of murder.

The SC affirmed the ruling of the Olongapo regional trial court in November 2000, which the Court of Appeals also upheld in August 2003.

If Roaquin has already reached mandatory retirement age and is no longer qualified for reinstatement, the SC said he should just be paid his back salaries, allowances and other benefits, including retirement benefits, from the time he was discharged to his assumed retirement.

The SC ruled that Roaquin’s superiors could not invoke Section 45 of Republic Act 6975 against him since no one filed an administrative action against him in connection with the murder case.

Records show that Roaquin, then a senior police officer II, was charged in April 1991 with murder for allegedly killing a certain Alfredo Taluyo in a nightclub squabble.

Two months later, while Roaquin was under detention, the Region 3 police issued a special order discharging him from the service.

He was discharged although he had not been administratively charged in connection with the murder case.

On June 8, 1994, the Olongapo City RTC approved Roaquin’s motion for admission to bail and granted him provisional liberty. On Aug. 11, 1998, the court acquitted him of murder, as he merely acted in complete self-defense.

Acting on Roaquin’s request, then Region 3 police director Roberto Calinisan reinstated him in the service in November 1998.

However, in January 2000, Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Acop, then the head of the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, issued a memorandum directing Calinisan to nullify Roaquin’s reinstatement.

Calinisan later issued two special orders nullifying Roaquin’s reinstatement and denying his motion for reconsideration. This prompted the dismissed policeman to bring his case to the SC.