Buenafe defends men on inspection results

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Police Director Melvin Ramon Buenafe defended his men yesterday following an inspection, which found them allegedly being remiss with their duties. 

It happened that some police station chiefs were not at their respective stations when Deputy Regional Director for Operations Louie Opus conducted a surprise inspection recently. This prompted Regional Police Director Ager Ontog to order Buenafe to investigate his men.

The surprise inspection was conducted in all 11 police stations in Cebu City following a shooting incident in a fast food chain at the JY Square Mall in Barangay Lahug last June 11. A man was wounded in the shooting.

Oppus said he conducted inspection on night shift officers and confirmed that some of them were not at the police stations. He could not name the officers, but has already forwarded the report to Ontog’s office.

But Buenafe argued that the time of the inspection has to be considered and his men should not be judged simply because they were not present at their stations at that time. 

“Of course, hindi sila nagpapabaya… Maybe we will be enlightened a little why the station commanders were not in the police stations. Required na (for police chiefs to be at the station everyday) but every night, meron ba? We are not electric robots. We also need nourishment and rest,” Buenafe said.

The inspection was conducted at 10pm.

“It is inherent actually in my task to investigate this irregularity but there are also reasons na wala ang tawo sa istasyon didto example kauban sa pagresponde,” Buenafe said.

Buenafe further said that even PNP Chief Raul Bacalzo himself, during his visits, doesn’t expect several personnel at the police stations or units.

“Because ang pulis expected na naa sa kalsada, magbantay sa kalinaw, dili mag-istambay,” he added.

Buenafe said the police can prevent crime by way of removing the opportunity for criminals by being present in the streets, in crime prone areas to remove the opportunity for criminals to stage any crime.

“But there are times that crimes happened inside the house or inside the establishment, not in full view of the people or even by the police dahil ito ay nasa isipan ng tao. There are three elements of crime for it to happen. First, intention ng tao na magcommit ng crime; second, capability or instrumentality, halimbawa naa’y pusil; katulo, opportunity na magcommit. The police has been trying to eliminate the opportunity by being there in the crime prone place,” the CCPO chief explained.   - (THE FREEMAN)