Cebu City police exec under fire

CEBU CITY — Mayor Tomas Osmeña may have recommended for the relief of the police chief of the Carbon district but the regional police said he would have to wait for the results of the investigation being conducted against the station commander.

Central Visayas police director Roberto Delfin said he cannot fire Carbon police chief Manuel Gurtiza without a good reason or basis.

An angry Osmeña called for Gurtiza’s relief the other day and further recommended that he be stripped of the P1,000 monthly allowance he has been receiving from the city.

Osmena’s angry reaction came after approximately 200 video karera machines were found lining the streets when a fire razed 350 houses in Barangay Ermita Monday evening.

But the police were only able to recover 14 video karera machines the next day, after the chaos triggered by the fire, which led to the discovery of the prohibited items, had died down.

Gurtiza is currently being investigated by both the criminal intelligence and investigation branch and the internal affairs office of the regional police.

Gurtiza, who has been dodging questions since the incident broke out, was still unavailable for comment.

In a phone interview with The Freeman, Delfin denied that the lack of an intelligence network was the reason for the proliferation of the video karera machines in Barangay Ermita.

Delfin said that when he ran into Osmeña during President Arroyo’s visit last Wednesday, he promised the mayor that he would look into the matter right away.

He said he has tasked city police officer-in-charge Alexander Abadinas to conduct an operation in Ermita and recover the rest of the machines.

Delfin also ordered regional intelligence and investigation chief Augusto Marquez to direct station commanders in the region to conduct operations against video karera.

Gurtiza is also under investigation for the three video karera machines which the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group confiscated at the Carbon market last April 25.

Abadinas said the discovery of the 200 video karera machines indicates that something is wrong with the intelligence network of the Carbon police.

Also under investigation is Waterfront police chief Noel Gillamac, after the Special Weapons and Tactics recovered several gambling machines in Barangay Tejero also last week. — Freeman News Service