AS DUMPIT'S FORMER LAWYERS EXPRESS SHOCK, CHR 7 VOWS TO PROBE ATTACK

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7 wants to conduct its own investigation on the alleged shootout in Tagbilaran City, Bohol that resulted in the killing of SPO2 Adonis Dumpit. In a text message to SunStar Cebu yesterday, CHR 7 director and lawyer Arvin Odron said they are still verifying the circumstances surrounding Dumpit’s shooting. Odron said they want to know if the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and local policemen observed the rules of engagement prior to the shootout. “All persons are supposed to be safe in the hands of the government pursuant to its commitment to serve and to protect the people, without discrimination,” Odron added. Two former lawyers of Dumpit were shocked to learn that he was killed yesterday morning. Lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva, who was Dumpit’s counsel during the trial of his homicide case, voiced his disbelief on the officer’s death. Salva said he could not recall the last time he talked to the policeman following his conviction for homicide in 2015. “May his soul rest in peace. Life has full of surprises and life is so precarious. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans,” said Salva, quoting part of a Bible verse. Lawyer Benjamin Militar, Dumpit’s counsel when he appealed his homicide conviction, was also saddened by his death. Dumpit was charged with murder for shooting and killing robbery suspect Ronron Go on Dec. 14, 2004. Go allegedly robbed two jeepney passengers in the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City. The NBI 7 investigated the case and secured affidavits and later found basis to indict Dumpit before the Office of the Ombudsman. Special Investigator Arnel Pura said the fact that Go was wounded in the back indicated there was no shootout. Dumpit was sentenced to a jail term of six to nine years and was ordered to pay P50,000 to the victim’s family. In May 2016, Dumpit was released from the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte after the Court of Appeals allowed him to post P250,000 bail pending the resolution of his appeal. It was Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña who bailed him out. The appeals court said that Dumpit had already served his minimum prison term of six years and showed good behavior while inside the jail.