MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) is preparing to swap members of the Davao Regional Police with those of Caloocan City after some of the latter were accused of killing teenagers and robbing residents, an official said yesterday.
The swap will be done in batches to avoid disrupting the delivery of public service and maintenance of peace and order, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said.
The PNP spokesman clarified that the swapping does not mean the entire police force.
“I don’t think it’s the entire Davao PNP, yung magbubuo ng (would comprise the) core group ng Caloocan,” Carlos said.
PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa opened Caloocan City “for those who want to be reassigned there,” he also said.
Earlier, National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde relieved a total of 1,200 police officers from Caloocan following allegations that members of a police precinct robbed a house in the city. The incident was caught on a closed-circuit television video.
Some Caloocan policemen were also accused of killing Kian Loyd delos Santos during an anti-drug operation and Carl Angelo Arnaiz when he was turned over to them by a taxi driver he allegedly robbed.
Carlos justified Albayalde’s action, saying the NCRPO’s intent was to retrain and reorient members of the Caloocan police in coordination with the PNP’s Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development.
He said the transfer and reassignment of police officers is characteristic of the PNP as an organization.
Carlos expressed confidence that the Davao police officers will not be disoriented once they are detailed in Caloocan.
He believes the PNP chief chose members of the Davao police because he has full trust and confidence in them. Dela Rosa was the police chief of Davao City before Duterte named him to head the country’s police force.
Carlos also cited the proposal of Sen. Panfilo Lacson to also implement a periodic reshuffle of non-commissioned police officers or those with ranks from Police Officer 1 to Senior Police Officer 4.