EDITORIAL — Waiting for dismissal

On Aug. 6 last year, police Lt. Col. Mark Julio Abong faced a complaint for a hit-and-run incident that killed tricycle driver Joel Laroa in Quezon City. On March 21 this year, the People’s Law Enforcement Board of Quezon City ordered Abong’s dismissal from the service. The PLEB had suspended Abong shortly after the hit-and-run and its cover-up. The Philippine National Police chief at the time, Rodolfo Azurin, said the PNP would respect “whatever decision the appropriate disciplinary body will come up with until it reaches finality while also affording due process to those involved.”

Perhaps the PNP probe of one of its officers has not yet reached finality, so the PLEB order will have to wait. Abong had also faced charges with seven other cops for allegedly kidnapping and extorting P2 million from three suspected scammers.

And yet Abong is still with the PNP, in the Legal Service at Camp Crame. At around 1 a.m. yesterday, he was nabbed allegedly for firing his gun outside a restaurant in Quezon City and trying to strangle a waiter.

It’s been eight months since the PLEB ordered his dismissal from the service. How long does it take for the PNP to decide if dismissal is warranted? Joel Laroa has been dead and buried for over a year. Abong, at the time the head of the city police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, had claimed that the caretaker of his Ford Ranger pickup was the one driving the vehicle when it hit the tricycle driven by Laroa.

Along with Abong’s dismissal, the PLEB also suspended for six months Lt. Col. Alexander Barredo, who headed the Quezon City Police District Station 3, which had jurisdiction over the accident site, along with traffic investigator SM/Sgt. Jose Soriano and Cpl. Joan Vicente. Video presented to the PLEB reportedly showed police initially apprehending the driver of the Ford Ranger, but later allowing him to leave. The police also failed to help Laroa, who died in a hospital.

Following the latest incident involving Abong, police said they were readying charges against him for alarm and scandal, physical injury, slander by deed, illegal possession and discharge of a firearm and violation of the gun ban. Probers said Abong had entered the restaurant-bar and demanded to see the manager, and had allegedly grabbed a waiter by the necktie and tried to strangle him. He then had another argument with a customer outside the restaurant.

PLEB members asked why Abong was still in the service. How long does it take for disciplinary proceedings in the PNP to be finalized? The PNP is duty-bound to protect the public from abusive cops.