13 Metro cop chiefs to be replaced?

At least 13 of the 37 police station commanders in Metro Manila who are low performers in the campaign against criminality, illegal drugs and "jueteng," will be affected in a revamp to be implemented today, a ranking police official said yesterday.

The replacements of the 13 station commanders are now being picked by mayors of the affected areas, said outgoing Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Romeo Peña.

"We have submitted the list of five candidates each to the respective mayors’ concerned," said Peña. "I’m now awaiting word from them."

Peña expects the revamp to be fully implemented before he turns over his post to Deputy Director General Edgar Galvante on Thursday. Peña will take-over Galvante’s post as deputy chief for operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame.

Peña’s deputy for administration, Chief Superintendent Rowland Albano, who concurrently heads the Senior Officer’s Placement and Promotion Board (SOPPB), has been rating the performance of the 37 station commanders since last month to determine who among them would be replaced.

"We are conducting an evaluation rating on a per semester basis and those found to be consistent low performers twice or thrice would go," said Albano in a telephone interview.

According to Albano, the criteria set by Peña was low performance in solving cases of bank robbery, robbery-holdup, petty crimes like cellphone snatching, illegal drugs, jueteng and the enforcement of the police beat patrol and the detective beat system.

Also considered are station commanders who are not graduates of the Officer’s Senior Executive Course (OSEC) and those who are overstaying or have stayed for more than two years in their posts.

Albano said he forwarded his recommendations for Peña’s approval over the weekend. He said Peña would most likely announce the relief of the low-performing station commanders during a command conference today at the headquarters of the Central Police District (CPD) in Quezon City.

He said the incoming station commanders are all competent police officers, who are OSEC graduates and showed promise in their past assignments.

In a telephone interview, Peña said he issued orders yesterday for the relief of Pasay City police chief Superintendent Alex Gutierrez who was overstaying in his post. He said Pasay City Mayor Peewee Trinidad has yet to chose his replacement from the list of five candidates he forwarded to his office.

Police Station 6 in Commonwealth Ave., Quezon City and another police station in the CPD will also get new commanders upon the approval of City Mayor Sonny Belmonte.