Cop in shabu lab case granted bail

BAUANG, La Union, Philippines – A former police chief of Dagupan City who was tagged as an alleged protector of a shabu laboratory busted in Bimmotobot, Naguilian, La Union in July 2008 is now out on bail.

Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, also a former chief of the Regional Mobile Group of the Ilocos police, left the La Union provincial jail in San Fernando City at around 5 p.m. Tuesday after his representatives posted P1-million bail at the Bauang Municipal Trial Court (MTC).

In a 13-page order, Judge Rose Mary Molina-Alim of the Bauang Regional Trial Court said she allowed Borromeo to post bail because the evidence against him is “not strong.”

Prosecutors Danilo Bumacod, Gaudencio Valdez Jr. and Manuel Dulnuan prepared a motion for reconsideration to prevent the implementation of the judge’s order but Borromeo’s representatives rushed the processing of the bail and did not even file a petition to reduce the amount.

Sources said Borromeo did not appear before the MTC where he should have personally presented his release order.

The prosecutors, who found probable cause to indict Borromeo, alleged financier Joselito Artuz, and alleged shabu lab caretakers Dante Palaganas and Andy Tangalin, insisted that the evidence against the four were very strong and that the case was non-bailable.

Artuz is still the subject of a manhunt. For their part, Palaganas and Tangalin would remain in jail as their bail petition was denied.

Documents submitted by the prosecutors indicated that Borromeo and Artuz had allegedly been in constant communication with Palaganas.

The communication started from the time they allegedly began looking for a site for the shabu lab until July 9, 2008 when the facility was raided by joint operatives of the La Union police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s regional office, the Naguilian municipal health office and other operating units.

Naguilian Mayor Reynaldo Flores and other concerned citizens expressed dismay over the bail grant to Borromeo, citing the voluminous pieces of evidence against the accused.

“We fear that this decision allowing one of the big fish suspected in the operation of the shabu lab case (to be out on bail) signals the virtual dismissal of the case,” a local official said.

Borromeo was committed to the La Union provincial jail on May 8, 2009.