Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. has ordered the dismissal of Lt. Col. Mark Julio Abong, a police officer who was arrested after firing his gun outside a Quezon City bar, calling him a “disgrace to his uniform.”
“I, therefore, direct PNP chief Police General Benjamin C. Acorda, Jr. to immediately issue an implementing order for the dismissal of Abong,” Abalos said early morning Thursday.
“He is a disgrace to his uniform and the police organization as he continues his rogue acts after being arrested for an allegedly unprovoked gun-firing incident outside a bar in Quezon City last Sunday.”
Abalos made his statement after the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) upheld on Wednesday the Aug. 24 decision and Sept. 22 resolution of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) — Regional Appellate Board concerning Abong’s past hit-and-run case.
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In a 10-page decision, the DILG denied Abong’s second appeal after the RAB found him “guilty of three administrative charges classified as grave offense.”
“We find that his appeal is bereft of merit. The evidence points to his guilt for grave misconduct, grave neglect of duty, and conduct unbecoming of a police officer when he concealed his culpability in the said hit-and-run incident,” Abalos said.
The DILG chief was referring to a case on Aug. 22, 2022, year involving tricycle driver Joel Larosa and his passenger.
“Abong maliciously falsified evidence to put the blame on his driver Ronald Centino. However, substantial and circumstantial evidence is sufficient to refute Abong’s alibi and defense of mistaken identity,” Abalos said.
“This includes his admission to the PNP Health Services for treatment of his injuries immediately after the accident and where he was found by attending medical staff to be intoxicated.”
Based on previous reports, Abong made his first appeal after the Quezon City People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB) released the same ruling in March this year.
Abalos said Abong’s filing of an appeal proved that he was given due process. However, Abalos stressed that “his exhaustion of administrative remedies” needs to“stop here.”
“He can no longer delay his dismissal from service as recommended by the QC-PLEB Fourth Division in its Decision dated March 21, 2023. He has used up all his cards and he can no longer manipulate the law,” Abalos said, speaking partly in Filipino.
Abalos warned all police officers that the DILG would not tolerate law-breaking members of law enforcement agencies.
“No one is above the law,” he said.
Abong is facing charges of illegal discharge of firearms, alarm and scandal, and violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act in relation to the Omnibus Election Code, which was filed before the city prosecutor’s office on Nov. 26.
Regarding this new case, the PNP said that the director of its Legal Service department had already endorsed an administrative case against Abong before the Internal Affairs Service.
Meanwhile, the QCPD revealed on Wednesday that the resolution on Abong’s bail petition might be released on Thursday, Nov. 30, since all charges against him were bailable.