Police Lieutenant Colonel Mark Julio Abong, the police officer involved in a recent incident in a Quezon City restobar and hit-and-run case in 2022, has yet to be dismissed from the service due his pending appeal, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday.
“Abong exhausted his administrative legal remedies, he filed a timely appeal before the Office of Secretary of the Interior and Local Government. So nandoon po ngayon iyong status ng kaso niya (So that is the status of his case),” PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said in a press briefing.
“Kaya on the part of PNP, hindi po tayo makapag-issue ng implementing order hangga’t hindi po natatapos ang proseso,” she added.
(So on the part of the PNP, we cannot issue an implementing order until the process is completed.)
In August 2022, Abong was relieved from his post as the chief of the QC Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU) over a hit-and-run incident.
The incident killed a tricycle driver and injured a passenger but Abong had denied responsibility for it.
In March 2023, he was dismissed by the city’s People’s Law Enforcement Board after he was found guilty of multiple charges of grave misconduct, grave neglect of duty, and conduct unbecoming of a police officer with the aggravating circumstance of employment of fraudulent means to conceal an offense.
According to Fajardo, the DILG-Office of the Secretary vowed to expedite the process of Abong’s dismissal.
GMA News Online has reached out to the DILG for comment but it has yet to provide a statement as of posting time.
On Sunday, Abong was arrested after allegedly assaulting a waiter and firing a gun twice outside a bar along Scout Rallos Street in Barangay Laging Handa.
He was reportedly drunk and had an argument with a fellow customer.
Tension also occurred at the QCPD-CIDU office in Camp Karingal after Abong tried to leave even though a clearance from the PNP was not given yet.
Abong will face multiple complaints such as alarm and scandal, violation of the Omnibus Election Code (gun ban), physical injuries, and slander.—AOL, GMA Integrated News
