PRO-7 chief lauds CPPO

CEBU, Philippines - Police Regional Office-7 Director Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas is proud of the Cebu Provincial Police Office’s accomplishment in the fight against illegal drugs.

This after CPPO was awarded by the national headquarters as the top performing unit in the nationwide campaign against illegal drugs.

Bañas said since he assumed the directorship of PRO-7, he made it clear that they will be focusing more on the campaign against drugs.

In fact, almost two months ago, PRO-7 was also named as the top performing police regional office nationwide. The award was given by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.   Bañas said the CPPO’s contribution made PRO-7 number one.

Last week, Senior Superintendent Noel Gillamac went to Camp Crame to receive from Chief PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez the award as the best Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group nationwide.

“I’m proud of each and every police officer… the police have been doing beyond what is expected of them,” Bañas said.

“I did nothing, kung baga cheerleader lang ako, ang nagtatrabaho nito sila naman nasa field, mga tao sa Cebu province,” he added.

TOLEDO BUY-BUST

Meanwhile, the Toledo City police seized almost P500,000 worth of shabu and arrested a suspected drug pusher and his armed henchmen in a buy-bust operation  in Barangay Sangi past 1 p.m. on Monday.

Police arrested Romelo Mahinay Bayadog, a suspected drug pusher, who was armed with  a caliber .38 revolver loaded with three live ammunition; Ariel Abella, armed with a snub nose caliber .38 revolver loaded with two live ammunition; and Mark Molina, armed with a Black Widow Caliber .22 revolver loaded with five live .22 caliber ammunition.

The police received a report of an ongoing illegal drug transaction in Barangay Sangi that prompted them respond to the report.

When they arrived in the area, they saw three armed persons and asked them to turn over their firearms. The three men were surprised to see the police but did not resist.

The police confiscated five large packs of suspected shabu from Bayadog, two large packs from Abella, and another two large packs from Molina.

The confiscated suspected shabu weighed 45 grams with a Dangerous Drugs Board value of P 495,000.

Transfer of Pro-7 personnel to Negros region

Close to 1,500 commissioned and non-commissioned personnel from the PRO-7 were transferred to the PRO-18 of the newly-created Negros Island Region.

PRO-7 director Bañas said the directive came from the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, which ordered for the transfer of 1,360 police officers from PRO-7 to PRO-18.

With the transfer, PRO-7’s active police personnel were reduced to 7,000 from the original 8,000.

But Bañas assured that this will not affect the security of the region considering that Negros Oriental will no longer be under the jurisdiction of PRO-7, which now covers Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.

When Negros Oriental was part of PRO-7, the ratio between the police and the civilian population was at 1:755. The ideal ratio though is 1:500.

He added that the creation of PRO-18 lessens the burden of PRO-7.

Bañas explained that while there have been no major internal security issues in Bohol, Siquijor and Cebu, they had encountered such concerns in Negros Oriental where the presence of the New People’s Army has been reported. — Bryner L. Diaz/ATO (FREEMAN)