Nuezca’s Not Guilty Plea To Murder Of Mother And Son In Tarlac Assailed; PNP-IAS Recommends His Dismissal
Netizens were outraged, saying they could not believe that M/Sgt. Jonel Nuezca would have the “audacity” to enter a not guilty plea. Some of them said he is so thick-skinned.
UPDATED: Police Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca trended on Twitter anew on Sunday, Jan. 10, after news that he pleaded not guilty to the charges of killing a mother and her son in Paniqui, Tarlac broke out.
“The arraignment and pre-trial was conducted last Jan. 7, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. (…) wherein the accused (M/Sgt.) Nuezca pleaded not guilty,” Central Luzon police director Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said in a text message.
Nuezca, who is detained in a jail facility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Paniqui, was captured on video on Dec. 20 confronting his neighbors Sonya Gregorio, 52 her son Frank Anthony, 25, that ended tragically when the officer, in plainclothes, shot the pair in broad daylight and in front of a crowd of witnesses, including Nuezca’s daughter who was filming the altercation.
De Leon said Nuezca was arraigned at the Paniqui Tarlac Regional Trial Court Branch 106 on double murder charges. The next hearing for Nuezca’s case will be on Feb 4.
Following the news, netizens expressed outrage, saying they could not believe that Nuezca would have the “audacity” to enter a not guilty plea. Some of them said he is so thick-skinned.
“Ang kapal ng mukha,” read some of the tweets.
However, some lawyers on social media pointed out that it was the right of Nuezca to enter such a plea because if he has defenses that he wants to assert, the law allows him to do so.
Read more: “Video Speaks For Itself’: Palace, PNP Don’t See Any Way Out For Cop In Tarlac Killings
Dismissal recommended
As this developed, Nuezca has been recommended to be dismissed by the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) internal investigating body.
PNP Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) chief Alfegar Triambulo confirmed this Sunday amid reports that Nuezca had pleaded not guilty to murder charges against him.
Triambulo said the recommendation had already been submitted to Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr., chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
Since Nuezca, assigned to the Parañaque City Police Crime Laboratory, is under the NCRPO’s jurisdiction, Triambulo explained the decision to enforce the IAS’s findings and recommendation rests upon Danao.
“Already submitted to Gen. Danao of NCRPO, who has disciplinary authority over the person of (M/Sgt.) Nuezca, for his approval or decision of the IAS’s recommendation,” Triambulo said in a text message.
The IAS earlier said it was confident that Nuezca would be dismissed from the police force due to strong evidence against him.
The PNP, which had also ordered Nuezca’s salary to be discontinued, earlier vowed to have him dismissed in less than 30 days.
On Monday, Jan. 11, PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas announced Nuezca was already dismissed from service.
“The dismissal was already implemented by the regional director of NCRPO Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr.,” Sinas told reporters.
Sinas said “that already completes the cycle of investigation” into the case of Nuezca.
Apart from the dismissal, Nuezca was also administratively charged with two counts of grave misconduct and two counts of conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
Now that the recommendation has been enforced, Nuezca has lost all his benefits and is also barred from holding other posts in government.
The incident came as a shock in December as the video of the killings went viral on social media.
President Duterte himself vowed to serve justice to the Gregorio family during his talk to the nation on Dec. 21.
Duterte said a police officer like Nuezca must be sick in the head to do such brutal killings and wondered how he passed the PNP’s neurological tests.
Police investigators have obtained the original copy of the video that captured the Dec. 20 grisly shooting.
PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas disclosed on Dec. 24 that the probers already have in their possession the cell phone of the 12-year-old boy who managed to take a footage of the incident, which gives them an airtight case against Nuezca.
Malacañang had also said it could not see any way out for Nuezca, who shot dead at point-blank range his neighbors Sonya and her son Frank Anthony as the incident was caught on video.
Read more: Duterte: Cop Who Killed Mother And Son In Tarlac Mentally Deranged, Must Stay In Prison
PNP Obtains Original Video Of Grisly Shooting In Tarlac; Sinas Says Sorry To Gregorio Family
