Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 7) — The Philippine National Police is looking into the one-day furlough enjoyed by former Ozamiz Vice Mayor Nova Parojinog in November 2018 without permission from any court.
Documents obtained by the media show that the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 228 in an order on December 17, 2019 asked the jail warden of the PNP Custodial Center to explain why Parojinog was allowed to leave her detention cell on November 12, 2018 – without the knowledge of the court.
Judge Mitushealla Manzanero-Casiño noted that Parojinog did not even have a motion for furlough at that time. Parojinog’s lawyers were also ordered to show cause, as requested by state prosecutors.
Sought for comment, PNP officer-in-charge PLtGen Archie Gamboa said they will launch a probe on the issue, agreeing that no detainee can leave the Custodial Center in Camp Crame without a court order.
“We will investigate on that case na sinasabi ng (what is being said by the) DOJ (Department of Justice),” Gamboa said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
Explanations from the PNP and Parojinog’s lawyers were among the conditions set by the court in allowing Parojinog to visit her younger brother, Reynaldo, Jr. in Camp Bagong Diwa on December 23, 2019.
This is the second furlough granted to Nova Parojinog that month despite the objection of state prosecutors, who said there was no valid ground for her to enjoy a Christmas leave. The prosecutors even stressed it was tantamount to giving her preferential treatment.
The Parojinog siblings have been detained since 2017 over drug charges and illegal possession of firearms. Reynaldo, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2019. The Parojinog patriarch, Reynaldo Sr., was Ozamiz City mayor when he and 14 other people were killed in a police operation in the Misamis Occidental city that year. Police have tagged the Parojinog family as the source of illegal drugs in the city, with President Rodrigo Duterte tagging Nova Parojinog and her father and as among the narco-politicians operating in Mindanao.
Earlier, the Parojinog siblings were not allowed to attend the wake and burial of their parents in August 2017. Nova Parojinog has since denied any involvement in the killing of Edmundo Pintac, the Ozamiz regional trial court judge who denied their petition.
The court also ruled that Parojinog should shoulder all costs for transporting her from Camp Crame in Quezon City to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City – including expenses for her police escorts and other security measures. It’s unclear if these requirements have been met.
