CEBU, Philippines - Three police officials were ordered relieved from their current posts to pave the way for an investigation into their alleged use of an impounded car during their time as Cebu City Police Office-Theft and Robbery Section chief, respectively.
Senior Superintendent Noli Romana, CCPO director, issued order effective yesterday morning while the Investigation and Detection Management Branch looks into the allege violation.
Romana identified the three as Chief Inspector Noli Cernio, Punta Princesa Police Station chief; Inspector William Alicaba, Fuente Police Station deputy chief; and Senior Inspector Elisandro Quijano, Homicide Section chief.
The three officers were transferred to a “holding area” to prevent them from influencing the outcome of the investigation.
Cernio, Alicaba, and Quijano at one time served as TRS chief and were all accused of using a green Mitsubishi Lancer that was found abandoned October last year.
Alicaba who was the TRS chief that time, tried to locate the owner through print, television, and radio public service announcements but nobody showed to claim the vehicle.
According to a TRS blotter, the car was found abandoned at the corner of Molave and Apitong Streets in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
TRS allegedly ended up using the Mitsubishi Lancer in its surveillance operations and as a service vehicle in cases since the unit does not have a patrol car of its own.
In an interview, Romana said relieving the three officials from their respective posts did not mean they were guilty of the offense, saying it was just part of the normal process a police officer undergoes while being investigated.
He hinted that Cernio has a greater liability for allegedly using the Toyota Lancer as his service vehicle and for failing to turn over the vehicle to his successor, Chief Inspector David Señor.
Cernio allegedly brought the car to Punta Princesa Police Station when he was reassigned there last month.
Romano’s decision to relieve the three police officers was in response to Mayor Michael Rama’s request to keep the three away pending result of the investigation.
Rama also said the vehicle should be removed and kept somewhere to avoid the “attraction” of the police into using it again.
In May, the Cebu City Council passed a resolution for the purchase of a pickup vehicle worth P1.2 million that Romana requested for the CCPO-TRS. —Bryner L. Diaz, Correspondent Jean Marvette A. Demecillo/RHM (FREEMAN)