Caloocan’s top cop axed over doctored crime reports

MANILA, Philippines - Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Bernard Tambaoan was removed from his post Wednesday night for allegedly allowing his men to “alter records of crimes in his area of jurisdiction” to reflect a lower crime rate, officials said yesterday.

Northern Police District (NPD) director Chief Superintendent Edgar Layon said he received a call shortly before 10 p.m. from Chief Superintendent Carmelo Valmoria, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), instructing him to inform Tambaoan of his relief.

“According to the DIDMD (Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management Division), they are doctoring data and there is a discrepancy between their data and that of the DIDMD. I have directed the district investigation to conduct a probe of all the PCPs (police community precincts) of Caloocan to determine who is guilty of such omission,” Layon told The STAR.

Repeat offender

Mayor Oscar Malapitan did not comment on Tambaoan’s relief.

Layon, however, said this is the second time Tambaoan was removed from his post for the same reason.

Tambaoan was sent to Caloocan last year after he was relieved from his post as chief of the San Juan City police.

Tambaoan cannot be reached for comment yesterday, but sources at the Caloocan police headquarters said he has packed his bags.

Fact-checking

Layon said he had earlier ordered all the chiefs of police in the Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela area to “see to it that all the reports of the precinct and sub-station commanders are true.”

“I don’t know if he has knowledge about the doctoring and alteration of crime reports by his men. But he will be charged because of command responsibility,” he said.

Tambaoan “automatically goes to the Regional Personnel Holding Accounting Unit in Taguig City pending pre-charge investigation,” Layon added.

He said Senior Superintendent Ariel Arcinas, former chief of the NCRPO’s Regional Operation Division and a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy Class 1988, will sit as acting Caloocan police chief until the PNP presents Malapitan with five candidates for the next city police chief.