Consolacion mayor, cops cleared of raps

The Ombudsman-Visayas recently cleared Consolacion Mayor Avelino Gungob Sr., his chief of police and two other policemen, of both administrative and criminal complaints for arbitrary detention of employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

In a five-page decision, graft investigator Portia Pacquiao-Suson said there was lack of probable cause to charge Gungob, police chief Agustin Lloveras Sr., SPO2 Ricardo Daral and SPO1 Julieto Amores with administrative and criminal offenses.

The complainants, Diosdado Pacaldo and his fellow DPWH workers last year filed complaints before the Ombudsman that the town officials "illegally" apprehended and detained them at the police station while they were working.

Pacaldo and his colleagues said DPWH regional director Juanito Abergas ordered them "to clear all government infrastructure facilities such as bridges, pedestrian, overpass, center island, etc. of billboards and other commercial advertisements."

On May 26, 2004, the second day of their work in the town where they removed billboards from the overpass, Gungob arrived and ordered Daral to handcuff him and take them to the police station where they stayed for about five hours.

In his counter-affidavit, Gungob said that on May 25 he noticed some billboards on two pedestrian overpasses, near the town's central school and health center, removed without his knowledge. The next day, he was informed that the same people were removing more billboards from an overpass near the subdivision prompting him to call the police for assistance. He said he believed then that the Pacaldo group was doing "illegal" acts so he had them apprehended.

Amores said he and his fellow officers only followed the mayor's order without knowledge of a DPWH order prohibiting the installation of billboards along public highways. Lloveras, for his part, said his only participation in the incident was talking to the group of Pacaldo at the station.

During the investigation also, Pacaldo and his fellows filed a joint affidavit of desistance stating their desire to withdraw from the case because the incident was "a product of a misunderstanding between the two parties and overzealousness in the discharge of their respective duties." The Ombudsman ruled that Gungob merely acted on the belief that the DPWH workers were "without any legal authority" to remove the properties of the municipality, and that their detention was only for investigation purposes.

Daral and Amores were also found to have acted only "in obedience to the mayor's order" while there was "evidence on record to show Lloveras had any participation" in the acts the DPWH men were complaining about. - Liv G. Campo