P’sinan top cop sacked

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines  – This province’s acting police director found himself on the chopping block yesterday, a week after Gov. Amado Espino was accused of receiving millions of pesos in jueteng payola.

Senior Superintendent Mariano Luis Verzosa Jr., who took over as OIC police director last July, was relieved from his post and transferred to the Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

His relief order was signed by Director Elpidio de Asis, personnel and records management chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Verzosa was replaced by Senior Superintendent Manolito Labrador, deputy director for operations of the Region 1 police, in an acting capacity.

Sources said the jueteng controversy had something to do with Verzosa’s relief. Other sources, however, said he lost his post as his daughter Ma. Andrea Verzosa-Meneses is running for re-election as councilor of this capital town.

Last week, Bugallon town Mayor Rodrigo Orduña, a confessed jueteng operator, surfaced and accused Espino of receiving protection money from the illegal numbers game. He subsequently filed a plunder case against Espino before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Following the exposé, Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas was reported to have ordered the relief of police chiefs in this province. But no official order was received by the provincial police as of Wednesday.

Verzosa could not be reached for comment. Hours before his relief though, he told reporters that police officers like him must be ready to lose their post any time.

‘Politically tolerated’

In a media forum in Dagupan City yesterday, Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, from whom Orduña sought help prior to his exposé, said the jueteng issue may be politically motivated because the illegal numbers game is politically tolerated.

Braganza is running for governor under the Liberal Party against re-electionist Espino of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Braganza said it is the most convenient way for an official under attack like Espino to claim that the allegation is politically motivated.

“But to us, when we are under attack by the governor’s supporters, the media included, we roll with the punches,” he said.

He added that Espino should not be onion-skinned about the allegations against him.

Both Braganza and his running mate, retired PNP chief Arturo Lomibao, admitted that the jueteng issue against Espino works to their advantage.

“Ric (Orduña) has a mind of his own, maybe he has matured in politics the way he looks at things. That’s beyond personal consideration so let’s give it to him on what will happen to this issue, so be it. Everybody has a day in court,” Lomibao said.

Braganza said there has been no jueteng in Alaminos for many years. “I am not moralizing on it. It is our own personal conviction,” he said.

Espino’s legal team

Meanwhile, Espino has tapped a pool of 12 prominent lawyers not only to defend him in the plunder case but also to run after his political rivals who are behind the “smear campaign” against him.

Lawyer Abraham Espejo, Espino’s lead legal counsel Abraham Espejo, yesterday said Espino instructed them to prepare criminal actions against his “political enemies who bankrolled the smear campaign against him in time for next year’s midterm elections.”

“The charges filed against Gov. Espino are politically motivated. We are appealing to the authorities to observe due process and stop this sinister political persecution. In particular, political opponents of Espino were behind the demolition job,” Espejo told reporters in Manila.

“We will show that all these charges are fabricated and based on manufactured and illegally obtained evidence. They cannot put a good man down,” he said.

Espino’s camp believes that his “overwhelming election” in previous polls and his “exemplary record” as a government official and police officer could be reason behind the black propaganda linking him to jueteng operations.

“Recent surveys show that Gov. Espino is leading by a very big margin over his opponent,” Espejo said.

He added that Espino will remain as a loyal member of the NPC and will continue to support the ruling coalition of President Aquino.

Espejo is a known lawyer of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. He is joined in the legal team by lawyers Alexis Medina, Citedina Magno-Zarate, Nancy Ocampo-Omatdo, Madel Villaroman-Fiel, Allen Blair Boy, Janice Regoso, Salvador Medialdea, Loreto Ata, Zann Paolo Pacificador, Lorna Imelda Suarez, and Alexander Poblador, a known lawyer of Sen. Panfilo Lacson. – With Edu Punay