I’ve lost confidence in Razon — Osmeña

CEBU CITY — Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he has lost his trust in regional police director Avelino Razon because of the investigation into the arrest of a suspected drug courier which resulted in the relief of the former city police chief.

In an interview over dyLA, Osmeña said the recommendation of deputy regional police director for administration Alejandro Lapinid, who headed the panel which investigated former city police chief Hiram Benatiro, was clearly unfair.

The panel recommended Benatiro’s relief after he was accused of pocketing money in exchange for the release of alleged drug courier Giovanni Gimenez, who reportedly had links with the Hong Kong triad.

Osmeña said Razon even promoted Lapinid to deputy regional director for administration even after he failed to solve the grenade-throwing in a parlor owned by the wife of city election officer Simaco Labata during the last elections.

The mayor said Lapinid’s promotion and Benatiro’s relief made him lose his trust and confidence in Razon and the whole Philippine National Police (PNP) hierarchy.

"That is correct, I’ve lost my confidence and trust not only in Razon but in the entire PNP hierarchy. I’ve lost my respect for them," he said.

Osmeña also admitted that he regretted approving the recommendation to relieve Benatiro, saying that he (Benatiro) did nothing wrong.

The new city police chief, Lani-o Nerez, did not escape Osmeña’s criticism. "I’m now starting to get feedback that he is not doing as well as Benatiro," he said, adding that Nerez has yet to solve the recent P4-million Landbank robbery in the city.

He said that if Nerez cannot do his job, then he will relieve him even if he is appointed as the permanent city police chief.

Razon, meanwhile, denied that he told Benatiro that the results of the investigation into the alleged bribery allegations were only for his personal consumption.

Razon also denied that he fooled Benatiro by not telling him the real purpose of the investigation. Benatiro earlier said that Razon fooled him into the investigation since presidential appointees cannot be investigated without clearance from the President.

He also questioned Razon’s authority to investigate him. But Razon said he had sought presidential clearance before he ordered the inquiry.

Razon said he cannot afford to fool Benatiro who is his fellow senior officer and a brother mason.

"How could it be for my personal consumption when the open investigation was for public dissemination? It was submitted to the city mayor and the PNP chief, and was even released directly to the tri-media to inform everybody," he said. — Freeman News Service