Cop who tried to sneak liquor through checkpoint relieved from post

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

Intel operative no more.

The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) ordered the relief of Police Staff Sergeant Paul Pingoy, the cop caught trying to sneak liquor through a checkpoint, effective May 9, 2020.

Through Special Order No. PRO6-SO-RA-2020-850, “said police officer was relieved from ORID (Office of Regional Intelligence Division) and reassigned Regional Headquarters Support Unit (RHAO),” according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Gorero, chief of the Regional Plans Division and concurrent officer-in-charge of the PRO-6 Public Information Office (PIO).

Pingoy, 39, and his friend Adolfo Patiam Jr., 30, both residents of Barangay San Sebastian, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, were arrested around 8:15 p.m. of May 8, 2020 at the quarantine control point (QCP) at Barangay Cabugao Sur, Sta. Barbara.

They were caught in possession of 39 boxes of Tanduay Rhum 750ml.

The following day, the suspects were charged for violation of Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code (Resistance and disobedience to a person in authority or the agents of such person) before the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC) Sta. Barbara-Pavia. The case was docketed as Criminal Case No. 4728-SB.

They were also slapped with a criminal charge for violation of Republic Act No. 11332 (Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act) in relation to Executive Order No. 110.

EO 110 (An Order Further Enforcing an Enhanced Community Quarantine from 01 May 2020 to 15 May 2020 to Protect the Entire Province of Iloilo from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) took effect on April 30, 2020.

Under Section 11 (Liquor Ban) of EO 110, “the selling, furnishing, offering, buying, serving, dispensing and transporting of alcoholic beverages, such as whisky, brandy, gin, vodka, rum, cocktail, wine, champagne, beer, and such other intoxicating drinks, shall be prohibited.

Pingoy was released from detention on Tuesday after posting bail.

Further, “an administrative charge is now also being readied against him,” Gorero said.

The PRO-6 leadership has again cited Sta. Barbara Police Station for the duo’s arrest and subsequent filing of criminal charges.