Whose order carries more weight?
DUMPIT
The Court of Appeals granted his petition for bail; his bail was paid last Wednesday. The Regional Trial Court in Abuyog signed his release order.
But SPO1 Adonis Dumpit remains detained at the Leyte Regional Penitentiary.
The jail warden will not obey the court’s order unless Dumpit gets clearance from the Bureau of Corrections in Manila.
Incoming Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña was puzzled by the refusal of Jail Warden Geraldo Aro to release Dumpit.
“Dili uy… nag-release ang judge pero di man mag-release ang warden. Ambot. Ambot ngano, nangita siya’g kwarta? Ambot,” (The judge already released him but the warden will not. I don’t know why. Is he looking for money? I don’t know),” Osmeña exclaimed.
He said if Dumpit’s lawyer Benjamin Militar fails to bring Dumpit to Cebu City today, they will discuss legal moves.
“Klaro kaayo…nganong magkinahanglan og clearance sa Manila? Sa akong tan-aw, nagkinahanglan og kwarta, mao na akong tan-aw (It is clear why they need clearance from Manila. In my opinion there is need for money, that is my opinion),” Osmeña said.
In a post on his Facebook account, Osmeña said, “Sadly, Adonis will not be coming home today. The judge already signed his release but the warden is insisting on getting a clearance from Manila.”
Dumpit was not allowed by the warden to leave the Leyte Regional Penitentiary (LRP) yesterday afternoon until after he gets clearance from the Bureau of Corrections.
FRUSTRATION
Interviewed last night, Dumpit expressed frustration over his continued detention and said he might have to wait until next week before he could be released.
He said his lawyer, Militar, and a female staff of incoming Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who carried the cash bail, returned to Cebu yesterday evening aboard a fast craft vessel.
“Gitagaan ko og one week (starting today) hangtud ma-clear akong papers sa Bureau of Corrections sa Manila. Kung diha pa na sa ato, release na unta. Ambot, di ba kaha na sila ma-contempt nga naa na may order sa korte? (I was told it would be at least a week to clear my papers with the Bureau of Corrections in Manila. If this happened in Cebu, I would have been released already. I don’t know but can’t they be cited in contempt because there is a court order already?),” Dumpit said.
He said jail officials made him understand that it would normally take two weeks to process the clearance from the Bureau of Corrections.
“There is nothing I can do but wait,” Dumpit said in Cebuano.
He already sent some of his belongings with Osmeña’s staff but retained enough clothing to last a week.
FETCH
Anticipating Dumpit’s release yesterday, Osmeña sent his son Miguel to fetch the former at the Tacloban airport.
“My dad wanted to pick him up himself but he was still in a presscon so he sent me instead,” Miguel said in a phone interview at around 3:30 p.m. yesterday.
But with Dumpit’s continued detention, Miguel instead went around Leyte, specifically in Javier, to take pictures of the old American airstrip, upon the request of his father.
Shortly before 4 p.m., Osmeña again posted on FB that Dumpit’s release did not push through.
He said that while Abuyog Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 10 Judge Carlos Arguelles already signed Dumpit’s release papers, LRP officials were still awaiting clearance from their head office.
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