RIID drops admin case vs. Gillamac

The police Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division recently dropped the administrative case filed against Supt. Noel Gillamac for lack of merit and probable cause.

Gillamac, then the Fuente Police Station chief, was charged with irregularity for allegedly releasing a drug suspect on March 5 without filing the appropriate charges.

But Gillamac pointed out that the arresting officers had the necessary requirements and tried to file the case before the City Prosecutor's Office at 3:30 p.m. on March 4.

The suspect, Ligaya Llaguno of Sitio Kawayan Sambag II, was arrested at 10:30 a.m. of March 4. But when the arresting officers went to the prosecutor's office in the afternoon, the case was no longer received because of the ongoing flag retreat and the unavailability of the chemistry report, which was necessary for the inquest proceedings.

Gillamac explained that at 11 p.m. of March 5, the reglamentary period for Llaguno's detention had already lapsed, prompting him to order for the suspect's release.

The case against Llaguno was filed only after the chemistry report was available a few days after, when the subject was already at large.

What was debated, however, was the right interpretation as to when the reglamentary period had actually started.

Investigators presented two conflicting interpretations on reglamentary period such as "the hours during which the courts are closed and no delivery can be made are not counted," and "in enforcing the applicable periods, the means of communication, the hour of arrest and the other circumstances such as the material possibility of conducting preliminary investigation should be considered."

But RIID chief Augusto Marquez said there was actually no fixed rule on the counting of time, as it is always subject to varied interpretations by the court.

Marquez said that by the time Llaguno was taken into custody around 10:30 a.m. of March 4, the reglamentary period had already begun.

"The situation would have been different had the arrest of Ligaya Llaguno occurred after 5 p.m. when all the government offices are closed because obviously there can be no delivery made to proper judicial authority of the arrested person." Marquez said.

Aside from that, Marquez said there were no documents that would strengthen the complaint and that the facts of the case were only established based on the counter affidavit of the accused officers and their witnesses.