PNP exec linked to missing AK47 rifles loses plea for MOR

MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals has dismissed the petition of an official from the Philippine National Police (PNP) preventively suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for his involvement in the disappearance of 1,004 high-powered AK-47 rifles that were allegedly sold to the New People’s Army.

In a resolution made public Monday, the appeals court through Associate Justice Leoncia Real-Dimagiba dismissed the plea of Chief Superintendent Raul D. Petrasanta for being “insufficient in form and substance.”

The appeals court said Petrasanta should have first filed a motion for reconsideration before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“We find petitioner’s failure to file a Motion for Reconsideration [MR] to the 26 November 2014 Order fatal to his petition,” the appeals court said.

“Verily, the [MR] is intended to afford the Ombudsman an opportunity to re-examine his order and to correct whatever if any mistakes or errors he [/it] may have committed, without the intervention of a higher court.”

Petrasanta is one of the police officers suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman over the missing firearms.

Last month, his co-respondent Chief Supt. Regino S. Catiis also sought a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals, which it granted.