Cleaning of ranks continues: 4 Cebu police chiefs relieved

CEBU, Philippines - The chiefs of the police offices in Cebu City, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu, as well as that of the provincial police, have been relieved from their post effective yesterday.

Senior Supt. Renato Dugan of the Regional Personnel and Human Resources Development Division confirmed receiving the order from the national headquarters at 1:34 p.m. yesterday.

"Hibulong ko mga 1:35 (p.m.), gapusot-pusot man ang order gikan sa Crame," Dugan told The Freeman in a telephone interview.

Senior Supt. Benjamin Santos Jr., of CCPO; Sr. Supt Jonathan Cabal of MCPO; Sr. Supt Arnel Libed of LLCPO; and Senior Supt. Clifford Gairanod of CPPO have been transferred to the national headquarters' Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit.

The order also designates Sr. Supt Jose Macanas from HPG Camp Crame as CPPO Director; Sr. Supt. Romel Cabagnot from Police Regional Office 8 as LLCPO Director, Sr. Supt. Roberto Alanas from National Capital Region Police Office as MCPO Director, and Sr. Supt. Joel Doria from NCRPO as CCPO Director.

An order issued earlier also designated Sr. Supt Felipe Natividad as Bohol Police Provincial Office Director following the relief of Sr. Supt. Dennis Agustin after the latter's appointment as chief of the Directorial Staff of the Police Regional Office 7.

Sr. Supt. Erson Digal of the Siquijor Police Provincial Office retains his post.

Sought for comment, Cabal told The Freeman that he welcomes the reassignment.

"The president will not be successful when the society is not one with the president in his vision," he said, adding, "Hindi naman masama ang loob ko. It's a welcome development."

Cabal said he received a text message about the movement.

Cabal said he is proud of what his station has accomplished while he was chief, such as helping secure the International Eucharistic Congress last January and the recent May elections. The crime and illegal drugs numbers in the city have also decreased.

Cabal was former public information officer of the PNP at Camp Crame.

Libed, for his part, said he has learned to love Lapu-Lapu but is ready to take on a new challenge.

"We are ready anytime, anywhere. I begin to love this place," he said.

Libed was assigned previously at Camp Crame as chief of Directorate for Research and Development.

Gairanod, for his part, said that as a good soldier, he will "take the order with a grain of salt." He said he knows his successor being his upperclassman at the Philippine Military Academy and believes he is capable of doing the job.

He took pride in Cebu province's achievement as number 1 in the illegal drugs campaign while he is provincial police chief.

In a text message to The Freeman, Santos said simply, "I am very happy."

Even with the change of leadership in the police offices in the region recently, Dugan is optimistic the developments will not have a negative impact on the police's campaign against illegal drugs.

"Para nako, it doesn't matter and dili maka-affect sa efficiency sa police sa campaign sa illegal drugs. Walay impact nga dili maayo. Mao ra nang polisa, lain lang ang ngalan," he said.

After Police Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa assumed as PNP chief, he instituted a massive revamp in the police force, starting with the national headquarters and cascading down the ranks.

This is part of Dela Rosa's effort to clean the police ranks in line with the government's aggressive campaign against illegal drugs.

In Central Visayas, the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (RAIDSOTG) and Regional Special Operations Task Group (RSOG) will have new personnel following the relief of 65 men last Monday.

The 65 are undergoing a five-day "Balik Eskwela" program at the regional headquarters.

Police Regional Office 7 Director, Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, said he will get operatives from police stations and from the Regional Public Safety Battalion-7 to compose the new teams. RAIDSOTG will focus on anti-illegal drugs operations while RSOG will focus on anti-criminality initiatives.

This week, at least 150 police personnel from RPSB-7 have been downloaded to the regional headquarters and some of them will be assigned to RAIDSOTG and RSOG.

Some of the 150 newly downloaded personnel will be distributed to the police stations for their new assignments.

Aside from the newly downloaded RPSB personnel Taliño plans to get personnel from the police stations.

"Ang RAIDSOTG ay specialized ng operation ng illegal drugs, at lahat naman ng ating police unit can go on with their operation ng illegal drugs kaya hindi problema ang pag-relieve sa mga RSOG," he said.

Oplan Tokhang

The first 12 days of "Oplan Tokhang" in Central Visayas recorded 28,232 pushers and users turning themselves over to authorities.

Of this number, 25,219 are self-confessed users while 3,013 are self-confessed pushers.

Most of those who surrendered were in Bohol with 14,210 users and 572 pushers followed by Cebu province with 7,558 users and 1,569 pushers.

In Cebu City 2,006 users and 630 pushers surrendered while 556 users and 96 pushers surrendered in Mandaue City. In Lapu-Lapu, 670 users and 96 pushers surrendered.

Siquijor recorded the least with 189 users and 50 pushers.

Siquijor has the smallest police provincial office in the region with six municipal police stations. It has a population of 91,066 based on the 2010 census.

With these figures, Taliño said he would describe the operation as successful. He expects more to surrender in the coming days.

"Totokhangin natin sila lahat," he told the press.

Still, Taliño said he disappointed with the enforcement aspect of the anti-drugs operations in the region. He is referring to "target-based" operations based on the list stations chiefs submitted.

He said that when he assumed as regional director, he noticed that there are non-performing police stations.

"Disappointed ako sa accomplishment sa illegal drugs, although may nag-react na police station na pina-eevaluate, nakulangan pa rin ako," he said. (FREEMAN)