Corpuz replaces Catalan as CIDG regional director

Senior Superintendent Jeorge Corpuz is now the new regional director of the Criminal Intelligence and Detection Group-7, replacing Sr./Supt. Oscar Catalan.

Corpuz was accompanied by Sr/Supt. Raul Castañeda, chief of staff of the CIDG-Central Office, in yesterday's turnover ceremony that was held without Catalan around.

Catalan was in Manila for a 2-day Cyber Crime Summit that ended yesterday, and had asked permission to attend the graduation of one of his children.

Castañeda told reporters that Catalan will be named to a higher position in the central office, denying insinuations that his relief was an offshoot to the Land Bank-Bogo robbery case investigation.

He also clarified that the relief was not an abrupt decision because the official was informed about it beforehand.

Before the CIDG-Central Visayas post, Corpuz headed the CIDG-6 until last November and moved to the CIDG-Central Office in Manila.

He said however that his Cebu assignment was no longer new to him because he once headed the now defunct National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force here in the region.

Corpuz is a class 1982 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy and a classmate of Cebu Provincial Police Office director Vicente Loot.

With his new post, Corpuz said he will start defining his programs with his men, who he said will be the lead investigators of all major crimes, aside from being mere "man hunters."

He also assured the public that CIDG-7 will pursue an intensified drive against all illegal activities. - Flor Z. Perolina