Republic of the Philippines

OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN

Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military
and Other Law Enforcement Offices
Ombudsman Building, Agham Road, Diliman, Quezon City, 1101

EMMYLOU J. TALINO-MENDOZA,
Complainant/s

- versus -

OMB-P-A-17-0137
FOR: Serious Neglect of Duty

J/SUPT PETER D BONGNGAT JR,

Respondent/s.

x----------------------------------------------------x

POSITION PAPER

COMES NOW, Respondent by himself and to this Honourable

Office most respectfully submits this POSITION PAPER in compliance
with its Order dated April 12, 2019 which he received on May 7, 2019.

THE PARTIES

Complainant is EMMYLOU J. TALIÑO-MENDOZA, incumbent

Governor of Cotabato Province. On the other hand, respondent is a
Filipino, of legal age, single and a resident of Purok 25, People’s
Village, Ma-a, Davao City, and holding the rank of Jail
Superintendent under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology
presently designated Jail Warden of General Santos City Jail-Male
Dormitory, General Santos City, with salary grade 25.

FACTS OF THE CASE

On September 17, 2016, upon assumption of office by the

respondent as the Jail Warden of North Cotabato District Jail
(NCDJ), it has come to his attention that there were Children in
Conflict with the Law (CICL) detained together with adult offenders.

Considering that there was a standing memorandum from the

BJMP National Headquarters on the classification of offenders and in
compliance with the provisions of R.A. 9344 as amended by R.A
10630 (placing of CICL to special facility away from adult offenders)
,the respondent ordered the transfer of CICL to Prison Without Wall
(PWOW) compound, a separate facility which is more or less two
Hundred (200) meters away from the NCDJ main facility.
 PWOW compound, comprises of three (3) separate jail
buildings purposely intended to cater female, elderly/sickly male PDL
and CICL. It was an innovation of the provincial government of
Cotabato by abandoning the concept of concrete walled jail
facility instead the perimeter fences were made up of barbed wires.
Before the transfer of the CICL, one of the jail buildings at PWOW was
unutilized while the other two jail buildings were already
accommodating female PDL and elderly/sickly male PDL.

Since PWOW is also intended to cater CICL, in the absence of

special youth care facility in the province of Cotabato, the transfer
of CICL to one of the vacant jail buildings was reasonable and
necessary.

At the time of the CICLs transfer to one of the vacant jail

buildings, an operational security plan has already been in placed
where the operational control and custody of CICL, based on the
duty details of personnel, belongs to the provincial prison guards of
Cotabato Province.

On or about 7:20 in the evening of 19 October 2016, five (5)

CICL-PDL managed to escape from the CICL building under the
watchful eyes of PG1 Ebenezer D. Humabad and PG1 Ernesto S,
Soriano who were in charged with the custody of the CICL as the on
duty custodial guards of PWOW at the time of the incident.

In response to the incident, respondent immediately took the

necessary corrective action that leads to the recapture of two CICL
escapees.

ISSUE

1.) WHETHER OR NOT RESPONDENT HAS COMMITTED SERIOUS

NEGLECT OF DUTY.

DISCUSSIONS

Respondent, as a jail manager, must ensure the safety of all

Persons Derived of Liberty (PDL), including the welfare of the CICL,
and such, said transfer is within his mandate for the “Best Interest of
the Child in Conflict with the Law”;

In the Complaint-Affidavit of Hon. Gov. Mendoza, she stressed

that the act of respondent in transferring CICL PDL to PWOW is a
clear act of negligence since some of the CICL PDL were charged
with heinous crimes and they are no longer minor offenders at the
time of the said transfer, in which the respondent firmly disagrees,
considering that in the classification of CICL offenders, what
determines the former is the age at the time of the commission of
the offense and not on the present age of the person;

Complainant herein, in support of her allegations of negligence

against respondent in the commission of the acts complained of
presented a Memorandum dated 19 October 2016, with subject:
Incident Report re: Escape of Five (5) CICL, addressed to J/SSUPT
ALBERTO M. BALAUAG, BJMPROXII Regional Director and signed by
the respondent.

For negligence to exist, there must be an omission to do

something which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations
which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or
doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not
do. Negligence, in its civil relation, is such an inadvertent
imperfection, by a responsible human agent, in the discharge of a
legal duty, as immediately produces, in an ordinary and natural
sequence, a damage to another (Black’s Law Dictionary).

Respondent firmly believes that he did not commit any

negligence, whether criminal or administrative, when he caused the
transfer of CICL to PWOW, since his act of ordering the transfer of
Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL) PDL to the Prison Without
Walls (PWOW) was in compliance with the memorandum of BJMP
National Headquarters on the classification of offenders to separate
CICLs from adult PDL pursuant to R.A. 9344 as amended by R.A.
10630.

And as shown in the Summary Evaluation Report of BJMP-NHQ

Directorate for Investigation and Prosecution dated April 17, 2017, it
specifically inferred that the operational control of PWOW lies within
the responsibility of provincial guards detailed in the facility and
therefore absolving the management of NCDJ under the
wardenship of the respondent from any administrative liability arising
from the escape incident at PWOW where five (5) CICL PDL
escaped.(copy of Summary Evaluation Report is hereto attached )

Hence, there is no probable cause to support a case against

the respondent.

In the same vein, complainant, in the person of GOV.

EMMYLOU J. TALIÑO-MENDOZA, has no legal personality whatsoever
to represent the Jail Bureau in filing the complaint against the
respondent since her administrative power in as much as disciplinary
action against BJMP personnel is concern, pursuant to the
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) entered into by the BJMP and
the Provincial Government of Cotabato in the exercise of joint
administrative disciplinary jurisdiction, is only recommendatory in
nature.
 It is worthy to mention that absence of any authority or
jurisdiction to file complaint is a ground for the outright dismissal of
the complaint.

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed of this

Honourable Office that the complaint deserve an outright dismissal
for lack of probable cause.

Respondent prays for other reliefs just and equitable under the
premises.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED

J/SUPT PETER DUMPAO BONGNGAT JR.

Respondent

VERIFICATION

I, J/SUPT PETER DUMPAO BONGNGAT JR., Filipino, of legal age,

single and a resident of Purok 25, People’s Village, Ma-a, Davao
City, Philippines, after having been duly sworn to in accordance with
law hereby depose and state:

That I am the respondent in the above-entitled case; that I

caused the foregoing Position Paper to be prepared; that I have
read and understood the same and that all the allegations stated
therein are true and correct of my own knowledge and information
and based on authentic records.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto affixed my signature this

__________ of May 2019, at General Santos City.

J/SUPT PETER DUMPAO BONGNGAT JR.

Respondent
 SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this ______ day of May
2019 at General Santos City, Philippines. I hereby certify that I have
examined the affiant that he executed the foregoing Position Paper
and understood the content thereof.

The affiant is personally known to me and exhibited to me his

BJMP valid ID No. _______________ issued on ___________ in
_______________, Philippines.