Tom vows to cut off allowances of 6 cops, move them out of city

Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday threatened to cut off the allowances of six city policemen and reassign them to police stations outside Cebu City if they are proven to have accorded protection on suspected drug pusher Epifras "Tatay Pepe" Regis.

The name of the policemen cropped up during an interview with Regis' wife, Gloria, who alleged that she and her husband had been giving these policemen money for gasoline and even load for their cellphones.

The police have put Regis on the drug watch list and classified him as a level-1 drug pusher, or one who is capable of disposing at least two kilos of shabu weekly, but he was never caught since Rep. Antonio Cuenco had exposed his name in Congress.

"He (Regis) is one of the hardest drug operators to get. I think the whole public was shocked that some policemen have been protecting him," Osmeña told reporters.

Osmeña said he would not hesitate to cut off the allowance of six policemen and recommend to the police department that they would be their transferred outside the city.

Mrs. Regis has named the six policemen who she had accused of receiving money from her and her husband. They are SPO1s Francisco Balansag, Fernando Velarde, Rene Tamboboy and Nilo Dandan, PO3 Alfonso Sarmiento and PO2 Stanley Aldemita.

Mrs. Regis alleged that these policemen became her close friends and even stood as sponsors in the wedding of her son in August last year.

The mayor believed that the revelation of Mrs. Regis has reduced the problems of the police department "little by little."

Supt. Paul Labra III, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau, said in a separate interview that he already summoned the six policemen to report to his office on Monday and give their respective statements about the allegations of Mrs. Regis.

Labra said he would also compel Mrs. Regis to issue an affidavit in support of her accusations. "I will personally look into this case and investigate the matter," he said.

Mrs. Regis, together with her husband and their driver, was arrested Tuesday night in a pension house at barangay Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City for possession of various packs of shabu, which the police have estimated to weigh at least 25 grams in all.

Her husband had been in hiding for nine years since a warrant of arrest was issued against him. He fled and went into hiding somewhere in Mindanao.

Last Monday, he came to Cebu supposedly to celebrate his 56th birthday but the authorities arrested him and ended his allegedly slippery trail in the illegal drug trade. - Garry B. Lao