THE Court of Appeals has junked the plea of two former Marikina policemen to be reinstated after they were dismissed from the service after forcibly taking a laptop and cash from two suspects during a drug buy-bust operation in 2013.
In a 7-page ruling promulgated on May 21, the appellate court’s Special Thirteenth Division, through Associate Justice Carlito Calpatura, junked the petition for certiorari filed by former police officers Badalf Monte and Jonathan Aberte questioning their dismissal from the service.
Court records showed the two were among the police officers assigned at the Marikina Police Station who conducted a drug buy-bust operation on March 14, 2013 against complainants Jocel Medrano and Al Gafur Sarip.
The complainants alleged that after the operation, one of the police officers forcibly took Medrano’s laptop and belt bag containing more than P11,000.
On April 30, 2014, then-PNP Chief Alan Purisima found Monte and Aberte guilty of grave misconduct and ordered them dismissed from the service.
The two moved for reconsideration but their plea was denied on July 15, 2015.
The National Police Commission, in a decision dated December 6, 2016, also dismissed their petition.
Their appeal to the Department of the Interior and Local Government was also denied in February 2017 by then-Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano for lack of jurisdiction.
This prompted Monte and Aberte to elevate the case to the CA, arguing that Ano’s decision had been rendered with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of or excess in jurisdiction.
However, the appellate court also dismissed their plea.
“Upon review of the records, we dismissed the petition for non-exhaustion of administrative remedies. Evidently, the petitioners did not appeal their case to the Civil Service Commission before filing the instant petition with Us,” the CA said.
It added that under Napolcom rules, the decision of the DILG Secretary in “the exercise of his or her appellate jurisdiction, is appealable to the CSC.”
The CA further argued that even if it would consider the arguments raised by Monte and Aberte, their petition would still be dismissed for lack of merit.
“Accordingly, if we were to assume that the DILG Secretary erred when it denied their appeal and transgressed against the petitioner’s right to procedural due process, the proper remedy would have been to elevate the case to the CSC,” it added.
Concurring with the decision were Associate Justices Ronaldo Roberto Martin and Selma Palacio Alaras.
