‘Replace sacked cops in 24 hours’

Replace them within 24 hours.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. ordered yesterday newly installed Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to submit a list of replacements for the seven ranking PNP officials who were sacked last week for failing to stop illegal gambling in their areas.

The list is needed by the National Police Commission so it can implement its resolution relieving the seven regional, provincial and district police commanders who failed to stop jueteng and other illegal numbers games in their areas. The Napolcom must submit this list to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for clearance and implementation.

The Comelec asked Napolcom to suspend the implementation of its relief order until the sacked police commanders have been replaced and that list is submitted to the poll body. Transfers of government personnel have been prohibited by the Comelec due to the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Lina said Ebdane’s first priority is the appointment of officers in charge of the PNP regional commands in Central Luzon, Central Visayas, Southern Tagalog and Manila, so that the names of these new regional commanders can be submitted to the Comelec.

Lina, who is also chief of the Napolcom, ordered the relief of PNP Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay, Directors Avelino Razon and Domingo Reyes, Chief Superintendents Reynaldo Berroya and Nicolas Pasinos Jr., and Senior Superintendents Leonilo de la Cruz and Jose Antonio Salvacion.

Lina said the selection of these new police commanders will be made through the PNP Selection and Promotion Board, which evaluates the performance of PNP officials nationwide.

Lina said the relief of the seven police commanders does not automatically implicate them in illegal gambling activities. Their relief came as a result of their failure to comply with the Napolcom’s "Strike Three Policy" under Memorandum Circular 2002-005, penalizing lawmen in whose areas three or more raids and arrests for illegal gambling were made by law enforcers not organic to the area.

Lina also said Napolcom has asked governors Lito Lapid of Pampanga, Pablo Garcia of Cebu, Teresa Lazaro of Laguna and Lito Atienza of Manila to explain why they failed to stop illegal gambling activities in their constituencies.

If evidence warrants, then the proper administrative or criminal charges will be filed against the seven sacked police commanders and other local officials involved, Lina said.

Razon: We performed well

Meanwhile, Razon, who headed the Central Visayas police command, said in a statement that he and the other relieved police commanders "cleared their names."

Razon said he and his colleagues have records to show they performed well in the fight against illegal gambling.

"I do not ask to be retained," Razon added, "I tendered my resignation to pave the way for an impartial investigation. At least I have cleared my name... I don’t protect or coddle gambling lords."

"In Cebu, we scored the highest in anti-illegal gambling (operations)," he said. "In the case of Aglipay, (his relief) is unfair (to) him. The National Capital Region is a wide area and ranked number one."

Razon believes there was inconsistency in the policy of the PNP and Napolcom regarding the application of operation of the anti-illegal gambling drive dubbed "Roulette Milenyo" and Napolcom Memorandum Circular 2002-005, jointly issued by former PNP chief Leandro Mendoza and Lina: "There is an ascending degree. You don’t at once relieve the highest (police officer)."

According to Razon, "Roulette Milenyo" provides that under the "Strike Three Policy," the station commander is relieved before the regional director.

Razon added that jueteng and other illegal numbers games cannot be completely eradicated unless the DILG fulfills its part of the four-point anti-illegal gambling drive by providing alternative employment and livelihood programs for the poor, usually the bettors and collectors in illegal gambling activities.

In another development, a group of provincial and city police directors tendered their courtesy resignations in support for the seven sacked top cops.

The police officials said in a manifesto accompanying their resignations that "this collective action is being made to underscore our serious concern for the arbitrary and whimsical exercise by the Napolcom of a command function which, by law and time-honored tradition, is vested upon the chief of the PNP."

These police officers said they are against illegal gambling but they "adhere to the holistic approach where all sectors of society must act out their respective roles under the (anti-illegal gambling) strategy."

The manifesto was dated June 29 and bore the signatures of at least 10 provincial and city police directors. Its signatories believe the Napolcom "exceeded its authority" in issuing Resolution No. 2002-063-A relieving the seven police commanders and placing them on floating status: "Justice and equity demand that due process must be observed before one’s honor is taken away... today we have seen the fall of seven of our best men. Tomorrow even more will fall if we are left fighting alone until the organization runs out of good men."

Both Razon and Aglipay told The STAR they had nothing to do with the manifesto and had no knowledge of it.

Aglipay, however, has called for unity in the ranks of the PNP: "We should now focus ourselves in uniting our ranks and help the new PNP chief in battling criminality as wished by our Commander-in-Chief President Arroyo." Aglipay also advised the provincial and city directors who signed the manifesto to heed Ebdane’s call for unity and concentrate on the fight against crime.

The manifesto is being passed around the provinces for other provincial and city police directors to sign, it was learned. However it is not clear if the manifesto would find its way to Ebdane’s hands.