By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Bondoc was taken into custody ahead of his sentencing on April 3 |
Security was tight inside court no 4
at Eastern Magistracy on Monday as a Filipino resident who threatened to burn
down the Consulate, assaulted one of its staff and intimidated a security
personnel, was immediately put behind bars after being found guilty on three charges.
Ronald B. Bondoc, 42, a restaurant
worker, will be sentenced on April 3, after background reports are submitted to
court on orders of Magistrate Leona Chan Pui-man.
The magistrate held that the
prosecution was able to prove beyond reasonable doubt all three cases of
criminal intimidation, common assault and loitering causing concern that were
brought against Bondoc.
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She also found that the three
Consulate staff who were presented as prosecution witnesses were honest and
credible.
In contrast, Bondoc who defended
himself after rejecting the services of a counsel from the Duty Lawyer scheme,
was found to have given excuses that were hard to believe.
In the first case of criminal
intimidation, Bondoc called the Consulate hotline on January 22 last year,
during which he repeatedly threatened to burn down the Consulate offices and
hurt its staff, particularly “Arnel.”
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The call was recorded by the staff on duty Lhyndzie M. Orozco, who testified in court how Bondoc’s threat had so alarmed her that she reported it to her superior the very next day.
In turn, the officer personally went to the police to file a complaint and hand over a copy of the audio recording of Bondoc’s call. This came after Bondoc visited the Consulate and assaulted one of the staff there
In his defense, Bondoc said he made
the call only because he was distressed and suicidal as the Consulate did not allow
him to change his status to “single” in his passport even if he had already
separated from his wife.
He also said it was not his intention
to intimidate Orozco as he was only after Arnel. In fact, he said he repeatedly
apologized to Orozco for getting her involved. He also questioned why it took
the Consulate three days to complain to police.
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In rejecting his defence, Magistrate
Chan said, “I do not believe that he had called merely to seek help from the
Consulate,” noting that Bondoc repeatedly threatened to burn down the Consulate
offices and harm its staff, particularly “Arnel” during the phone
call.
Among the threats he made were:
“If you want me to go there,
Miss, I will set the office on fire.”
“You will be a witness to what I am
saying now.”
“Leave that place, the day will come
when it will be burned down.”
“The Consulate will be burned one of
these days”
“Will you be one of them if you don’t
say this to Arnel?”
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Magistrate Chan said Bondoc’s words
were calculated to cause concern to anyone who might have heard
them. She also said it was immaterial that the Consulate filed a complaint with
the police three days after the incident.
In the second charge of common
assault which happened two days after the phone call, the magistrate said she
believed the victim, Edmound Cortes, when he told the court that Bondoc had
held him by the neck when he stopped him entering a restricted area in the
Consulate.
At that time, Bondoc held a golf club
in one hand and his baby on the other. Video recordings of the incident showed
him entering the public area and passing on his baby to a Filipina in the
crowd, before attempting to move towards the assistance to nationals section.
Cortes said he pushed Bondoc away
after he tried to strangle him as the defendant was still holding the golf club.
Other male staff came to his rescue, and one of them was seen on video to have
kicked Bondoc on the back.
The magistrate said the video
recording of the incident confirmed Cortes’ story. She also said the kick on
Bondoc’s back was made after that assault, so his claim that he was actually
the victim in the incident could not be true.
Further, she noted that by passing on his
baby to another person before making a move, Bondoc showed an intent “to do
some action.”
For the third charge of loitering
causing concern, the magistrate said a video recording of the incident on March
28, 2022 showed clearly that Bondoc had hung around the Consulate’s lift lobby
for 15 minutes doing nothing except to go in circles.
Before this, he approached the CCTV
and showed a metal angle bar he was carrying, which he then proceeded to put
down on the table of the security officer just before the entrance to the
Consulate, but made no move to enter.
Two Consulate staff were also seen to
approach Bondoc but he did not engage them in a conversation. After about two
minutes, ambulancemen arrived, followed by police officers, and they took
Bondoc away.
The magistrate said all these events
belied Bondoc’s claim that he had gone there to ask for a copy of the CCTV of
the Feb 24 incident. If this was true, he would have asked the security guard
or the staff who approached him if he could enter.
Instead, he merely walked around with
no discernible purpose, leading the magistrate to conclude that Bondoc’s real
intention at that time was to cause concern to the guard and the other people
in the area.
Ahead of the sentencing, the
prosecution told the magistrate that the defendant had a clear record.
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