Dismissal for cop in wife’s slay

He may have scored a minor victory by securing his temporary freedom recently but a Quezon City policeman, accused of killing his wife in Marikina City last March 13, is facing another battle – his dismissal from the service.

Metro Manila police chief Director Edgar Aglipay ordered yesterday summary dismissal proceedings against PO1 Elmer Buena, the prime suspect in the killing of his wife, Ma. Morena, 33.

Aglipay tasked Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Tor, Quezon City police chief, to convene a summary dismissal board to make Buena face the consequences of killing his wife.

"He (Buena) will be dismissed if found guilty of killing his wife," said Aglipay in an interview.

Buena was reporting for work at the Central Police District (CPD) Station 2 in Baler when arrested by men of Superintendent Cipriano Querol, Marikina City police chief on the strength of the testimony of Mrs. Buena’s cousin, Vivian Pagtalon, 32.

Before leaving to meet her husband the day she died, Mrs. Buena told Pagtalon the Quezon City cop would be the culprit if something happened to her, Pagtalon told Querol.

When Querol filed parricide charges against Buena last Monday, prosecutor Nestor Gapuzan recommended no bail against Buena. But Gapuzan had a sudden change of heart and ordered the release of Buena "for further preliminary investigation" after his lawyer Nelson Borja questioned the legality of the policeman’s arrest. The questionable release of Buena triggered protests from the victim’s relatives.

But Aglipay is making sure that Buena cannot evade administrative charges. He said the parricide case filed by Querol will be used as the basis for summary dismissal proceedings against Buena.

Earlier, Scene of the Crime Office (SOCO) men found Buena positive of gunpowder nitrates, meaning he had fired a gun recently. The spent shell and slug recovered at the crime scene was also found to have been fired from Buena’s service firearm, a 9mm automatic pistol.

Querol noted that Buena refused to submit specimen of his hair for DNA testing by the crime laboratory of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The SOCO recovered strands of hair from Mrs. Buena’s fingernails believed to be that of Buena’s.