Last month at the Police Service anniversary, the Caloocan Police received an award as the Best City Police Station.
Yesterday, the entire city police force was sacked, with only the newly installed chief and his deputy spared, following the killings of teenagers and a break-in and robbery by city policemen.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde ordered the relief and retraining of the sacked police personnel.
The order came a day after members of the Caloocan Police Community Precinct 4 raided an elderly woman’s home and reportedly stole money and other valuables in an incident captured on closed circuit television camera.
Albayalde said some 1,200 personnel of the Caloocan Police would undergo retraining and reorientation for 45 days before being reassigned to other police units, not necessarily back to Caloocan City.
Only Caloocan City Police chief Senior Supt. Jemar Modequillo and his deputy for administration, Chief Insp. Ilustre Mendoza, were retained.
Modequillo replaced Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna on Sept. 5, following widespread outrage over the killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos on Aug 16.
Mendoza, on the other hand, had a good track record as police administrator and chief of the investigation unit.
“We will start with the city’s police precincts 2 and 7,” Albayalde said.
The NCRPO’s regional public safety battalion, a combat-trained unit, would temporarily replace all personnel in Caloocan’s headquarters and seven precincts.
There are about 3,500 policemen in the entire Caloocan Police force. “This (reshuffle) will be done in batches,” Albayalde said.
It is the first time an entire city police unit has been relieved of its duties since President Duterte unleashed his bloody crackdown against illegal drugs 15 months ago, a campaign that has killed thousands of Filipinos.
The move comes amid intense scrutiny of police activities in Caloocan City in the wake of the killing of Delos Santos in what police said was an anti-drugs operation.
His lawyers and family said he was murdered in cold blood. The three policemen involved in the killing claimed Delos Santos fired at them and they acted in self-defense.
The Department of Justice has started an investigation based on the murder and torture complaint filed against the Caloocan policemen allegedly linked to the killing of Delos Santos.
The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has set the hearing on summary dismissal proceedings against the policemen.
Another teenager, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, suffered a similar fate. The 19-year-old was accused of trying to rob a taxi driver and shooting at police who tried to arrest him. The taxi driver said on Sunday that he saw him alive in the custody of the Caloocan police.
No comments:
Post a Comment