PRO-8 head: Cop abuses not tolerated

PALO, LEYTE , Philippines— Chief Superintendent Elmer Beltejar, director of the Police Regional Office-8, on Friday reiterated his previous declaration that he will never tolerate abuses committed by his policemen in Eastern Visayas.

“We will not tolerate abuses of our men,” Beltejar assured the public during the Christmas party with the PNP Press Corps at the PRO-8’s Matapat Hall in Barangay Campetic of Palo, Leyte.

Beltejar urged the newsmen to inform him of any abuse committed by police officers anywhere in the region, so that when the information reaches him, he can do something about it or file administrative cases against erring policemen.

Recognizing the time-honored role of the media as watchdog of the society, Beltejar told the journalists not to hesitate in reporting to him. “If they (policemen) went out of bounds or did not follow the standard operating procedures,” then he can act about abuses that his leadership could never tolerate.

Beltejar recalled that PNP Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa told him, in an earlier meeting, that if the operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-8—who served search warrants at the Leyte Sub-provincial Jail in Baybay City on November 5—would later be found out that they committed crimes in the process, he would not tolerate them.

The CIDG-8’s dawn raid, led by Chief Inspector Leo Larraga, that day led to the death of the detained Albuera town Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.—father of Visayas’s alleged drug lord Kerwin—and ofAlbuera town in Leyte Rolando Espinosa Jr., father of the alleged Visayas druglord Kerwin, and another drug inmate Raul Yap.

The deaths of Mayor Espinosa and Yap prompted the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate and later found out that the incident was a rubout and no shootout between the two inmates and the raiding team, which also failed to follow the proper procedures for a raid.

Beltejar commended the media for taking a very active stance on the issue about the Espinosa killing, such as in providing information about the incident, as used during the Congressional inquiries.

Meantime, Senior Superintendent Elizar Egloso, chief of the PRO-8 Regional Police Community Relations Division, also expressed confidence over the new set of officers of the PNP Press Corps, headed by their president Vicky Arnaiz.

For her part, Arnaiz assured the police and the public that the newsmen, members of the PNP Press Corps, will maintain a neutral stance over issues confronting the PNP. — (FREEMAN)