One of two traffic policemen charged with the killing of motorist John dela Riarte in July last year has been missing, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said yesterday.
In an interview, Aguirre said the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) has issued an arrest order against Police Officer 1 Jonjie Manon-og of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG).
“While the HPG has received a copy of the arrest warrant last January 18, up to now he has not been found. We don’t know where he is,” he said.
Aguirre said he has called on the PNP administration to comply with the Manon-og’s arrest order, especial since he is supposed to be under restrictive custody for the murder and robbery charges against him.
“The PNP or whoever has custody of the accused is duty bound to produce him,” he stressed.
After preliminary investigation, Department of Justice (DoJ) prosecutors found that Manon-og and his colleague, Police Officer 3 Jeremiah de Villa, shot Dela Riarte inside their police patrol car after the motorist’s arrest during a traffic altercation along EDSA in Makati City.
Dela Riarte died of multiple gunshot wounds in the chest, abdomen and right thigh.
Manon-og and De Villa denied the charges against them and claimed that Dela Riarte attempted twice to snatch their service firearms on their way to Camp Crame in Quezon City.
A day after the two policemen were charged in court in August last year, De Villa reportedly jumped off the roof of a building in Camp Crame and died instantaneously.
Aside from murder, Manon-og is also facing robbery charges after it was found that Dela Riarte had P30,000 in cash with him when he was arrested and killed.
Chief Persida Rueda Acosta of the DoJ’s Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) said while the arrest order was issued last January 12 and received by the PNP last January 18, Manon-og remained at large.
Acosta, whose office provided legal assistance to the heirs of Dela Riarte, said she will coordinate with the PNP for Manon-og’s arrest.