Mayor’s bounty for scalawags to bring: ‘Violence and chaos’

CEBU, Philippines — The move of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to give an additional P50,000 over the bounty promised by President Rodrigo Duterte for rogue cops will only promote violence and chaos, says Police Advisory Council chairman, Councilor Joel Garganera.

Garganera also said he is not in favor of this move as the mayor has “different” criteria when it comes to giving bounties compared to the president.

“It’s non sequitor, it doesn’t follow, the president has his own criteria on what is rogue policemen. While Osmeña is simply a second-grade copycat with different term of reference,” Garganera said.

“…It is self-serving. The Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation consider the late SPO1 Adonis Dumpit as a rogue cop. Do you think he will give P50,000 to those operatives that ended Dumpit’s life? In other words ayaw nalang og apil-apil mayor, kay magdala lang ka og lubog,” he added.

On the other hand, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is also in the opposition with Garganera, said he supports the move of both Duterte and Osmeña.

"I fully agree with both. I concur in toto. Law enforcers should not be law breakers," he said.

Osmeña earlier said he is willing to give P50,000 over the bounty promised by Duterte and that he will use his personal money on this matter as far as the city is concerned.

This came after Duterte recently announced he decided to increase the reward for bringing in dead erring cops from P2 million to P5 million.

The president said this during his speech before the Hugpong ng Pagbabago convention, the regional party of his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte last Friday, where he said he will give P10,000 to anyone who can bring in a “ninja cop” alive.

Osmeña said his willingness to add to the bounty was based on his bad experience with police authorities right now in connection with the attempted ambush of Barangay Tejero Councilman Jessielou Cadungong.

He believes Police Officer 3 Eugene Calumba and police asset Michael Banua are among the scalawags in the city.

"I believe that Calumba and Banua are part of those scalawags," Osmeña said.

Osmeña even said that since Cebu City Police Office Director Senior Superintendent Royina Garma and Police Regional Office-7 Director Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas assumed their respective posts, killings in Cebu City started to rise. This is why he believes policemen are involved in the series of killings.

Make or break

After floating his resignation because of his frustrations with the country's problems, President Duterte said the issue of corruption could make or break his administration.

Duterte, who earlier admitted he may not succeed in eradicating corruption, warned the police against engaging in illegal activities, saying he was ready to give cash rewards to law enforcers who would kill their erring colleagues.

"You better shape up because I will rise and fall on the issue of corruption," he said during the Hugpong ng Pagbabago party convention in Davao City last Friday.

"Ang police maraming atraso. P***** i** kayo. Sinabi ko na sa inyo, tama na eh," he added.

Duterte said curbing corruption remains his "number one" priority, a campaign that he said would favor no one.

"So it’s corruption, I cannot help you. I cannot call anybody. I do not do it," he said.

Duterte cited his decision to fire the entire board of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation over a long-term lease contract with a casino investor that he had described as "flawed" and "disadvantageous to the government."

"I was exasperated. I was busy fixing the Nayong Pilipino. And of course, they were all my friends. That’s why they were appointed to the office," he said.

He said he has also fired Brigadier General Edwin Leo Torrelavega, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Health Service Command, and Colonel Antonio Punzalan, commander of the AFP Medical Center, and other military officials over alleged procurement anomalies.

"I can forgive you if you tell me it's overpriced. But when it comes to the medicine of soldiers or any patient, Filipino for that matter, who are waiting for medicines and end up having none, son of a b****, I will really be outraged," Duterte said.

"I was so exasperated. Hanggang kailan ba ‘to? P***** i** nakakasuka," he added.

Duterte said he wants people who are honest and ready to expose anomalies to join his administration even if they do not belong to his party.

"I said if you are available, I'd like you to join the government. I know that I'll be here only once. And I would be hitting the firewall three years from now. I don't expect to live that long," he said. — With Philippine Star/BRP