MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the conviction of a police officer on malversation charges over his failure to surrender a service firearm issued to him.
In a four-page resolution dated March 21 written by Associate Justice Tita Marilyn B. Payoyo-Villordon, the appellate court turned down the motion for reconsideration filed by Police Officer 2 (PO2) Emmerson Balosbalos.
Balosbalos had been found guilty in 2017 by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 84 of malversation of public property arising from his failure to turn in his service firearm, an M-16 Elisco rifle with serial number RP 130832, issued to him when he was ordered to do so by the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in 2007.
The CA upheld the two-year jail sentence and a fine of PHP20,000 for Balosbalos. He was also slapped with perpetual disqualification from holding any public office.
The unaccounted firearm was discovered following a physical inventory conducted on the assets of the unit.
Citing precedent cases, the CA reiterated that “the delivery to a police officer of the firearms belonging to the government, by reason of his office, necessarily entails the police officer’s obligation to safely keep the firearms, use them for the purposes for which they were entrusted to him, and to return them to the proper authority at the termination of the termination of his tenure or on-demand,”.
“This obligation the accused-appellant failed to discharge,” the CA said.
It added that the failure of a public officer to return a property issued to him upon demand by a duly authorized officer shall be "prima facie evidence that he has put such missing funds or property to personal use". (PNA)
