After 45 years, former mayor says he would serve sentence

CEBU, Philippines - For 45 years, former Dapitan City Mayor Dominador Jalosjos Jr. was allegedly "unaware" he has a pending warrant of arrest for robbery until a political enemy unearthed it and had him barred from running for Zamboanga del Norte governor in the elections last May.

Yesterday, Dominador sent a letter to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-7, saying he would finally face his crime, which he was supposed to serve jail for one year and six months after his conviction in 1969.

Dominador is the brother of former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos, who was once jailed for raping a minor.

"Actually, service of sentence naman god ni, but officially we voluntarily surrendered to the CIDG-7.  We wrote a letter nga we would like to inform the agency to take over the custody of our client," said Atty. Inocencio dela Cerna Jr., Dominador's legal counsel.

De la Cerna Jr. said Jalosjos wasn’t informed that he was convicted of his robbery case.

De la Cerna said Dominador did not think he had a standing warrant of arrest. The lawyer, though, admitted that after the conviction of his client, Dominador managed to avail of and was placed under probation.

"Wala siya mapriso, he was convicted and he applied for probation but the terms and conditions sa probation wa niya matuman," he said.

"Normally, when you are a probationer, you should report to your probationary officer. However, he is from Zamboanga City and the incident happened in Cebu. So maybe wala siya maka-report, so gi-cancel ang iyahang probation," De la Cerna said.

He claimed that Dominador thought all along that his probation was still active, until he ran for Zamboanga del Norte governor last year.

"The other party was able to look up and dig up that he was not able to serve his sentence," De la Cerna said.

He said that Dominador then tried to exhaust all legal remedies by going to the Court of Appeals, but the former three-term mayor, who is 72 years old, did not get an exemption from serving his sentence.

"Niadto gyod siya sa Court of Appeals, ni-issue og temporary restraining order; however, unfortunately, wa man gyod mi-issue og exemption that is why ang iyang warrant of arrest was enforced," De la Cerna Jr. said.

While Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras ordered Dominador arrested, the warrant could not be served yet as he is confined in a hospital and that his condition is allegedly getting worst.

"Critical ang condition niya because in one or two weeks, naa may open heart surgery siguro niya.  That is why we have submitted a medical certificate to the judge," he said.

Dela Cerna said they "are thankful nga nakasabot si judge sa iyang condition,"

A medical certificate issued by Dr. Peter Mancao of the Cebu Doctors University Hospital showed Dominador, who needs a heart bypass for his coronary condition, is also from suffering pulmonary disease and hypertension, among others.

Dr. Mancao recommended Dominador to be "confined in a hospital so immediate actions can be taken for the pre-operative work-up to prepare him for surgery to repair this serious and life-threatening condition."

Dela Cerna said they would bring Dominador's case all the way to the Supreme Court (SC). He, however, said that since Dominador has a pending warrant of arrest, his client is opting to face it and serve his sentence rather than wait for years for the SC to resolve his case.

Dela Cerna assured that Dominador is willing to stay at the Cebu City Jail and honor the warrant as soon as he gets out of the hospital.-/RHM (FREEMAN)