Legal officer asserts strong case vs. Chan
TRO HEARING SET JUNE 6
IT’S legal, nothing personal.
This was asserted by Atty. Geraldine Baniqued, the provincial legal officer, on the case filed to dismiss Sr. Supt. Marlou Chan as provincial police director.
“On the part of the province, we have nothing against Chan, ang gusto lang namin is ‘yong provisions ng batas, respetuhin,” Baniqued said on May 27, the same day the case was raffled at Branch 38 under presiding Judge Teodoro Fernandez of the Regional Trial Court in Lingayen.
“What the governor asks is that the provisions of law will prevail, after all, no one shall be made above the law,” she added.
The petition for preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order (TRO) is now with RTC Branch 69 under acting Judge Caridad Villegas Galvez.
The summary hearing of the case has been rescheduled to June 6 from the initial May 30 following a request filed by Chan’s lawyers.
Branch 69 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) under acting Judge Caridad Villegas Galvez granted the request of the legal representatives of Chan that they be given a period of time to secure the appearance of the Solicitor General in behalf of Chan during the hearing of the case.
“The defendant is being sued in his official capacity,” reasoned Philippine National Police (PNP) Legal Service Division lawyers Atty. Stephen Bodong and Atty. Ronald Laoyan.
Baniqued also agreed to the request.
The TRO, if granted, will be in effect for seven to a maximum of 20 days, said Branch Clerk Atty. Elizabeth Tugade.
During this period, Chan will not be able to exercise his function as provincial director.
LEGAL PROVISIONS
Baniqued cited that the appointment of Chan as full-pledged provincial director violated a number of constitutional provisions.
One of these is Section 51 of RA 6975, the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990, which provides that the incumbent governor is granted the right to choose among three eligible officers as recommended by the PNP regional director for the position of provincial director.
“In this case, that never happened. There was no list submitted to the governor, so he couldn’t exercise his right,” she said.
Chan served as officer-in-charge provincial director since February and was given permanent appointment by the police leadership on May 10.
Provincial officials, including the governor and the provincial board, said they have yet to receive a copy of the appointment.
The complaint further cites a violation of National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) Memorandum circulars providing that PNP officers cannot serve major key positions successively without handling administrative positions for about six months after tour of duty.
The petition filed by Espino also notes that several complaints were raised by local leaders regarding Chan’s inefficiency and alleged bias towards specific candidates during the recent elections.
Vice Gov. Ferdinand Calimlim affirmed that there was harassment of their party (Nationalist People’s Coalition) candidates by the provincial director during the election period.
Attached to the complaint was the manifesto for a change in the PNP leadership signed by majority of the mayors and board members of the province. It cited 23 documented shooting incidents in the province as of March 2013 and that latest records claimed at least 80 shooting incidents remain unsolved.
In addition, the complaint also alleges that majority of the municipal police chiefs in the province were relieved for no justifiable reasons, and without prior notices or advisories to the affected mayors. — Johanne R. Macob
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