Cop chief has men explain infractions thru affidavits

CEBU, Philippines — Talisay City Chief of Police Superintendent Jason Villamater is having all of his men explain through an affidavit whatever violation, no matter how simple, they commit, as part of background checking.

This came because of the allegation that there are Talisay City policemen who are illegal drug protectors.

“Kahit absentee, kahit failure to send (a) spot (report) pinag-explain ko na sila.  Hindi ko tino-tolerate ito, sensitive ito, bina-background check ko na yan,” he said.

The allegation surfaced after a Talisay City resident admitted to working for a bigtime drug lord in the city.

Villamater said he has conducted his own background check on the eight policemen alleged as drug protectors, adding that he would request his superiors that they, too, would subject those policemen to background check to confirm or disprove the allegation.

He also defended his men against an allegation made over social media platform Facebook by a citizen who claimed that policemen asked for P200,000 from the family of a drug personality arrested yesterday.

Villamater said he would not tolerate misbehaviors, including extortion, but the post could not be said as the truth already.

 “Social media lumabas, hindi natin ma-consider na conclusive; otherwise, nag-speculate na din ako, masisira ang police station,” he said.

He said, though, that he would not also take the information for granted, adding that he would institute measures to verify if the allegation against the investigating team is true or not.

Villamater said he believed that even before he was deployed in the city, policemen involved in illegal drugs had already been relieved following the internal cleansing made after President Rodrigo Duterte announced the war on illegal drugs. (FREEMAN)