Cop charged for missing all hearings of drug case

CEBU, Philippines - An intelligence officer will be facing an administrative complaint for Serious Neglect of Duty after he repeatedly failed to appear as prosecution witness during court hearings of an illegal drugs case which was filed by the Talisay City police.

It was the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management of the national headquarters that ordered an investigation against PO2 Roy Lofranco, of the Talisay City Police Station, after the illegal drugs case against Felix Caballero was dismissed.

Lofranco was summoned to appear before the Regional Trial Court, Branch 13 during the hearings last October 19, November 9 and December 7 all at 3 p.m. to testify as a prosecution witness, but he failed to do so.

The court already sent a warning to Lofranco after his second non-appearance at the RTC, stating that the court might provisionally dismissed the case. Still, Lofranco did not appear even at the third hearing.

Lofranco defended his absence saying that he was serving a warrant of arrest, but, the court stated that the trial of the instant case is more important than the service of warrant of arrest as it can be served anytime of the day.

The court reset the hearing last February 8 and 22 with a warning that if Lofranco fails to come, the court will direct the prosecution to present other witnesses or otherwise the case will be dismissed provisionally.

For the last time, Lofranco did not appear and the case was finally dismissed.

In the pre-charge evaluation of the Provincial Investigation and Detection Management Branch, Lofranco violated Rule 21, Section 2 of the National Police Commission Memorandum Circular 2007-001 when he failed to “appear and testify in court, when duly notified or subpoenaed as witness. If his non-appearance resulted in the dismissal of the case or acquittal of the accused or when he is the principal witness of the arresting officer, the penalty of dismissal from the service shall be imposed.”

The PIDMB will be forwarding the result of the evaluation to the Police Regional Office-7 for appointment of the summary hearing officer as the case is beyond the jurisdiction of the provincial director. –(FREEMAN)