JANETH Badana was not completely happy when SPO1 Adonis Dumpit was convicted of homicide in 2014 and was sentenced to up to nine years in jail.
She would have wanted the policeman to be liable for murder which carries a hefty penalty of up to 40 years in prison following the death of her 17-year-old son, Ronron.
Now that Dumpit was reinstated in the police service, the pain lingers even more.
Badana expressed dismay over the decision of the Philippine National Police to bring Dumpit back to its fold, calling the move “unfair.”
“Why was Dumpit reinstated when he was convicted by the court? Oh well, that’s all we could do. We can’t do something else because we’re poor,” she told CDN in Cebuano.
While Dumpit had served six years in jail or more than half the penalty imposed by the court, Badana said justice for his son and their family is incomplete.
She has entrusted everything to the Lord, she said.
“All of us shall answer before God, perhaps not in this lifetime but hereafter. Let God be the judge,” she added.
The 47-year-old mother admitted that the pain of losing a son has not died down but she’s praying that the Lord would grant her healing and the grace to move on.
“It’s very painful to lose a child. When Ronron died, a part of me vanished,” Badana said.
She appealed to the public not to judge her and her son, saying she tried to be the best mother she could be.
“I hope critics will not go through what I suffered. If only they knew everything and how I loved my son. I hope they won’t lose a child the manner I lost Ronron,” she said.
Badana was criticized for not watching over her son, an alleged robber who was shot dead by Dumpit in a police operation in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City in 2004.
She said it’s not fair to label his son a criminal since the boy could no longer answer the accusations thrown at him.
“I think it would be better if we let Ronron rest in peace. No matter how we accuse him of wrongdoings, he could not talk back,” Badana said.
“Give me a perfect human being, and I’ll kneel down before that person. Before they judge my son, they better look at themselves first. Ask yourself if you’re perfect,” she added.
Asked if she has forgiven Dumpit, Badana said, “How can I forgive someone who has not been sorry for what he did?”
“But I hope God will heal me,” she said.
Dumpit was convicted by the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City for killing the 17-year-old suspected robber. The administrative case filed against him in relation to the case was however dismissed by the National Police Commission, allowing him to return to the police service.
Dumpit, a sharpshooter and multi-awarded policeman, was released from the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog town, Leyte last month after the Court of Appeals allowed him to post P250,000 in bail for good behavior pending resolution of his appeal and once he had served his minimum prison term of six years.
The controversial policeman reported to the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 last Monday to process some requirements for him to be given a new assignment.