what happen if I don't attend to the local government hearing.?

Question

i live in a commercial apartment somewhere in the philippines,and I lived ther for a year and a half without a contract. one day unexpected thing happened..the meralco or electricity officer came to my apartment and replace the old electricity meter by a new one.after a month .. the meralco officer came back with a demand letter stating that the old meter of the apartment was tampered and they demanding to pay the amount of 300,000 pesos as a penalty.I was shocked and becoz of that i decided to live the apartment worrying to be blaimed by the owner of the apartment for that tampered meter . After a week the owner of the apartment called me in my cellphone and said that we have a hearing in our local government office.
my question is,,..what if i change my cellfone number and dont attend the hearing in that local goverment office?and just forget everything... what will happen? are they going to issue a warrant of arrest for me?
what is the best thing I could do?

would they put me in jail after finding me?

Answer 1

I think it's a good bet that someone is going to pay the fine, and a good bet they can find you anyway.

If you don't show up, you don't get any input over the result.

You didn't mention whether you did the tampering or not. If you didn't, I'd be sure not to neglect that detail at the hearing. Also point out that you were only there 18 months.

I suspect that once they realize that between a tenant and an owner, you're the less likely one to know HOW to tamper with a meter, and might not even have known where it is.

Answer 2

They can issue a bench warrant for your arrest or they could just find you guilty in abstencion. (not available in the courtroom) They WILL find you either by waiting for you to get a traffic ticket or through work records. It would be better to be there and find out all the details of the hearing.