Sinas yet to file counter-affidavit on ‘mañanita’ case

MANILA, Philippines — The Taguig Prosecutor’s Office is still waiting for National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas and 18 other policemen, including five generals, to submit their counter-affidavits in relation to the case filed against them for violating quarantine protocols during the former’s “mañanita” birthday celebration on May 8.

“There should be no fear from the public that the government is ‘dragging its feet’ just because the respondents are high-ranking officials of the Philippine National Police. The case is pending and is ongoing the usual process of a case, just like any other cases filed in the Office of the City Prosecutor,” Assistant City Prosecutor Paolo Mabolo said on Tuesday.

Assistant City Prosecutor Irish Del Valle said in a separate interview that the resolution on the case should be released by August “if everything goes well.”

“We are required to resolve complaints 60 days from the filing of the complaint but since we are in extraordinary times, that period is somehow relaxed. But rest assured we are all doing our best to resolve [the] case as soon as practicable,” she added.

The complaint was filed on May 15 by lawyer Michael Darwin Bayotas of the PNP Internal Affairs Service.

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