Bantolo is new Nueva Ecija police director

CABANATUAN CITY — A topnotch crime buster, who led a crack police unit that killed nine members of a notorious kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) gang last year, is the new police director of Nueva Ecija.

Senior Superintendent Allen Bantolo, head of the elite Task Force Maverick of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), assumes the post on Jan. 15, replacing Senior Superintendent Alex Paul Monteagudo.

Senior Superintendent Felicisimo Co, chief of the Camp Crame-based Recruitment and Services Division under the Directorate for Personnel and Resource Management, told The STAR that Nueva Ecija Gov. Tomas Joson III chose Bantolo from among the three recommendees of the 10-man Senior Officers Placement and Positions Board chaired by Deputy Director General Avelino Razon, Philippine National Police deputy chief for administration.

The two other contenders were Senior Superintendents Antonio Tanchoco, former police station commander of this city, and Wilhelm Barlis.

Earlier, Joson asked PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon, a fellow Novo Ecijano, to extend Monteagudo’s term but this was denied.

Calderon said provincial police directors who have been in their posts for more than two years will be re-assigned on orders of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to prevent them from being used by politicians in the May elections. At least 30 provincial directors are affected by the revamp.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class 1983, Bantolo, who hails from Antique, is known for his crime-busting exploits.

His Task Force Maverick, a special anti-organized crime group of the CIDG, was credited for the neutralization of the notorious Benny Velasco kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Nine gang members were killed in a shootout with task force operatives on July 29 last year.

The task force also busted the Bulawin robbery-holdup syndicate in an encounter in Pasig City last Aug. 3. Two of the gang members — a Navy man and an Army soldier — were killed while five others were captured in the operation.

For its twin feats, the task force was adjudged the CIDG’s best operating unit last year. It was also awarded as the best operating unit for 2006 of Oplan Salikop, an anti-organized crime campaign of the CIDG.

His new assignment is a homecoming of sorts for Bantolo who once served as commanding officer of the 183rd PC Company based in Gapan City when retired former CIDG director, Eduardo Matillano, was still the provincial commander.