Cebu police chief sacked over attack on radioman

CEBU CITY — For Chief Inspector Manuel Gurtiza, the deadline just came too soon. Gurtiza was relieved as chief of the Waterfront police station the other day, less than 24 hours after a radio news director was stabbed and wounded by a cellphone snatcher along M.J. Cuenco Avenue.

He was relieved for allegedly failing to stop the series of snatchings within his turf. City police chief Ronald Roderos said he was unsatisfied with Gurtiza’s efforts against criminality.

Roderos said Gurtiza will be reassigned to the Drug Enforcement Office, and Superintendent Eduardo Catabas will take over his post.

The Waterfront police station covers the barangays of San Roque, Tejero, Sto. Niño and Tinago, notorious for having the highest record of snatching and robbery incidents in the city.

Gurtiza lost his post after dyLA news director Nicasio Napallacan was stabbed in a dimly-lit portion of M.J. Cuenco Avenue, beside the Cebu State College of Science and Technology, after he tried to fight off a snatcher who grabbed his Nokia 3210 cellphone.

Napallacan, who was stabbed in the left side of the body, identified the suspect as a certain Lito Ramirez. — Freeman News Service