PNP: Cop in Atimonan 'shootout' marked AWOL, team formed for his arrest

One of the policemen linked to the Jan. 6 Atimonan case has been marked as absent without leave, with the Philippine National Police forming a team to find and arrest him.

The PNP said Superintendent Ramon Balauag had been marked AWOL since July 8 after failing to report to his assigned unit in Camp Crame.

"PNP Headquarters Support Service head (HSS) Chief Superintendent Samuel Yordan has formed a follow-up team to locate and arrest Balauag and bring him back to PNP control," the PNP said on its Facebook page.

However, the HSS follow-up team has so far failed to find Balauag, after sending two notices to his last known address in Quezon City.

Balauag failed to report to the PNP Internal Affairs Service last Aug. 5, for a hearing of his administrative case for grave misconduct.

His lawyer has been informed of his client’s current status, the PNP said.

Balauag was formerly the chief of the Police Intelligence Branch (PIB) of the Quezon provincial police. He was to be under restrictive custody.

His superiors at the PNP-HSS Administrative Resource Management Division at Camp Crame marked him AWOL after noting his repeated failure to report for duty.

Also, Yordan ordered an investigation of Balauag’s continued absence as basis for summary dismissal proceedings.

Yordan said Section 53 of Republic Act 8551 indicates any police personnel who goes AWOL for at least 30 straight "shall be dismissed immediately from the service."

"His activities and whereabouts during the period shall be investigated and if found to have committed a crime, he shall be prosecuted accordingly,” Yordan quoted the law as saying.

The PNP personnel linked to the Atimonan multiple murder case had been reassigned to HSS under restrictive custody effective January 23.

The supposed shootout on January 6 this year that killed 13 people occurred at the second of three checkpoints set up by the police in Barangay Lumutan, Atimonan, Quezon. The NBI was tasked to investigate the case.  — LBG, GMA News