16 Eastern Samar cops sacked for drinking inside station

MANILA, Philippines —  Sixteen police officers assigned in Dolores town in Eastern Samar were relieved from their posts after they were caught binge drinking during their Christmas party on Dec. 15.

Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy, Eastern Visayas police director, ordered the administrative relief yesterday after photographs of the drinking session went viral online.

Among those relieved was the town’s police chief, a captain, who was found in an initial investigation to have joined the drinking spree inside the police station.

Lt. Col. Analiza Armeza, Eastern Visayas police spokesperson, said penalties would be imposed if the investigation would show violations of protocols or errors in the action of the police officers.

The station has 32 police officers, with half of them relieved from their posts.

The Eastern Visayas police regional office has started replacing them with personnel from other units, stressing that it would not tolerate any form of misconduct by its personnel