3 Southern Tagalog policemen dismissed

In what it touted as part of its efforts to cleanse the police ranks of "ABaKaDa" (abusado, bastos, kutongero, di-kanais-nais), the National Police Commission dismissed three Southern Tagalog policemen from the service yesterday.

In a statement, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr., who chairs the Napolcom, said the regional appellate board of the commission’s Region 4-A (Calabarzon) office had affirmed with finality the dismissal of SPO3 Manolito Ambat and SPO1s Eliezer Dioneda and Nestor Matilla.

Ambat, of the Tagaytay City police, was found guilty of grave misconduct for running amuck and firing his gun indiscriminately inside the city’s police station, injuring a number of his colleagues.

Dioneda, who belonged to Quezon’s Provincial Mobile Group, got the axe for gross neglect of duty, unauthorized absences, insubordination, conduct unbecoming of a police officer and illegal possession of firearms and explosives (violation of the Election Code).

For his part, Matilla, of the Sta. Cruz, Laguna police, was dismissed for shooting a bystander because he (Matilla) did not like the way the victim stared at him.

Except for Ambat who appealed for the board’s compassion, Dioneda and Matilla anchored their appeals on their acquittal in the criminal cases filed against them for the same offenses.

The board’s chairman, Romeo David, however, ruled that Dioneda and Matilla’s acquittal in the criminal cases does not necessarily mean their exoneration in the administrative cases.

David added that the three policemen filed their appeals beyond the prescribed period.