29 cops relieved from posts

Twenty-nine policemen, one of them with the rank of Inspector were relieved from their posts and transferred to the Regional Headquarters Service Security Group of the Police Regional Office-7 effective yesterday.

These policemen are also set to undergo the Philippine National Police Values Formation and Leadership Training scheduled for the second week of September, PO3 Glenn Hife of the Regional Personnel and Human Resource Development Division said.

The said training is used by the PNP organization to reform their erring members or those who are suspected of possible involvement in illegal and criminal activities.

Twenty-two of the relieved policemen are from the Cebu City Police Office, these include one officer while the rest are non-commissioned officers. Two others are from Mandaue City Police Office while the rest are from Cebu Provincial Police Office.

Among those relieved were five CCPO policemen and another policeman from CPPO who were named by drug suspect Gloria Regis last month after her arrest.

She alleged these cops were accepting bribes from her and her husband in exchange for some favors and one of them was even a sponsor during the wedding of their son.

Gloria's husband Epifras Regis, alias "Tatay Pepe", was tagged as the "most elusive bigtime drug pusher in the history of Metro Cebu" by the police.

They were arrested together with their driver in a pension house at Lapu-Lapu City after they were spotted in sitio Villagonzalo II, barangay Tejero, last July 18.

Epifras reportedly supplies shabu to major cities in Cebu and neighboring provinces and gets his stock from Ozamiz City, according to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office. He reportedly sells his drugs cheaper than the other bigtime pushers.

The controversy involving these policemen caught the attention of police hierarchy in the region and ordered an investigation based on the allegations.

Two days after Gloria's revelation, she withdrew her statement and refused to file any complaints against the six policemen.

The policemen denied the allegations of Regis and even claimed they just knew them being as bigtime drug pushers in Cebu.

C/ Insp. Lourdes Ingente, chief of the administration branch of the CCPO said she is happy these policemen were removed from their posts since some of them are constantly absent despite reprimands for negligence of duty.

"Basta erring personnel dapat lang gyud himoan og report sa ilang mga station chiefs para mailisan og 'warm bodies' nga present gyud," Ingente said. - Edwin Ian Melecio