JUST hours after Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. paid tribute to his heroics, the murder case filed against five suspects in the gruesome killing of a police captain in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday last week was dismissed by local prosecutors.

Saying that ‘not all the elements of murder are present and that the complainant failed to present any witness to testify on the fact of the crime and to clearly and positively identify the killers,’ Maguindanao del Norte Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Adjuria Kansi recommended the dismissal of the inquest complaint for murder filed against five accused in the killing of Captain Roland Arnold S. Morante.

She also recommended that the inquest complaint filed by the Parang Municipal Police Station represented by Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Cabugwang against the five suspects ‘be referred for case build-up pursuant to Department of Justice Circular No. 020 Series of 2023.’

Kansi also recommended that respondents Police Master Sergeant Aladdin Ramalan and Shariff Balading be released immediately from the Parang police jail unless they are being detained for other lawful causes.

Her May 7 recommendation was approved by Provincial Prosecutor Abdinsa Sultan.

The two policemen along with Bocari, Uddin and Papo Intal were charged with murder by the local police as Gen. Marbil led the 232,000-strong force in honoring the memory of Cpt. Moralde who made the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of his sworn duty.

However, the provincial prosecutors said that upon evaluation of the inquest complaint, they found that “the warrantless arrest does not fall among the provisions of Section 5, Rule 113 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedures and the records of the complaint do not contain all the necessary evidence to prove the essential elements of the complaint.”

The Maguindanao del Norte prosecutors’ decision was scored by the police force as well as the family of the slain policeman. Calls for an investigation into reports that the accused got the favorable decision as they were all related to ranking provincial officials also went underway.

Moralde’s family received the President’s Special Financial Assistance from Sec. Abalos and Gen. Marbil when the two visited his wake at the Camp Crame Mortuary. Cpt. Moralde also received the posthumous PNP Medalya ng Katapangan and promotion to Police Major.

“PCpt. Moralde’s legacy of selflessness and courage in maintaining law and order will forever be remembered,” said PNP spokesperson, Colonel Jean S. Fajardo.

Moralde, the administrative officer of the PRO-BAR Regional Mobile Force Battalion based in Camp Salipada K. Pendatun, was killed while trying to disarm an armed man inside a public market in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday last week.

The policeman was killed when he accosted a man he saw with a gun tucked in his waistline inside the public market in Poblacion 1 where he was doing some marketing chores last May 2.

The suspect later identified as Mohiden Untal however resisted and exchanged fire with the officer and was killed on the spot. However, relatives of the suspect—three of them policemen in civilian clothes—went after Capt. Moralde as he was trying to get away from the scene.

Police earlier said they have enough evidence and are looking into the aggravating circumstances of the suspects being police officers. “As we have seen in the video footage of the slain police, he already fell to the ground. Instead of helping him, they fired at him,” the PNP spokesperson said.

Col. Fajardo said the accused policemen will also be facing administrative charges for grave misconduct, a major offense punishable by dismissal from the police force.

Four other policemen who were with Moralde inside the market have been relieved from their posts and will undergo an Internal Affairs Service investigation after they failed to immediately respond to the gunfire.