Police chief may be relieved over failure to submit report

CEBU, Philippines - Talisay City Police Station chief, Superintendent Reycel Carmelo Dayon, will likely face administrative charges and may be relieved from his post for his failure to report to the regional headquarters the shooting incident that killed a foreign national.

Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division-7 chief, Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas said that Dayon is under investigation after he failed to relay to the Police Regional Office-7 the information about the shooting incident that killed a German national inside a fast food chain in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City last February 20.

Henry Haffner, 31, died in the incident while Frenchman Julian Millard, 31; and his Indian friend Cheten Saparaiya, 31; were injured.

Lawas said Dayon violated the established pattern and system within the Philippine National Police since the organization requires station commanders to submit a report on a certain significant event under their jurisdiction within an hour from the incident.

Lawas further cited that the report must reach the provincial director, regional tactical operations center and regional director, and the report will eventually be forwarded to the national operations center in Camp Crame.

He added that Dayon was able to text the Provincial Tactical Operations Center about the Talisay shooting incident but nobody received the same information at the regional level, including PRO-7 regional director, Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas.

Failure to comply with such policy, Lawas said, is one of the grounds for Dayon to be relieved from his post especially since the incident involved foreign nationals.

Lawas said that Dayon has already submitted his explanation to their office.

He said they have yet to finalize the findings of their investigation and that the results of the investigation may be released next week.

“I don’t want to preempt the result of the investigation but maybe next week, we will be able to resolve it if we will proceed to pre-charge evaluation or accept his explanation,” he said.

Dayon, for his part, admitted that he failed to comply with the organizational policy since he was too preoccupied that time.

“I admit nga akong sala na siya kay medyo daghan ko’g gihuna-huna. Didto ta sa site then nag-brown-out around 6:30 to 7 a.m. Ni-resume ang power, mga 11 na. Katong gi-email namo nga reports sa internet café na gane namo naipadala. Although akong gipaninguhaan pero naa’y mga butang nga out of our control,” he stated.

Dayon also said that he heard the rumors that he will be replaced by Superintendent Hermano Mallari, Bogo City police chief, and that he is ready to relinquish his post.

“I believe he is equally competent as I am so malipay ko para sa Talisay nga dako nga syudad nga siya modumala ana,” he told reporters. — Grace Melanie I. Lacamiento/ATO (FREEMAN)