2 police officials in hot water

CEBU, Philippines - Two police officials in Central Visayas will be under pre-charge evaluation following their alleged failure to report more than 30 percent of crime incidents from their respective police stations to Camp Crame.

Insp. Rodrigo Tubog of Sibulan, Negros Oriental and Sr. Insp. Merceda-Ruis Balabat of Jagna, Bohol have been relieved of their posts pending summary proceedings conducted by the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7.

No less than Chief Supt. Augusto Marquez, executive officer of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, found discrepancies during his visit to PRO-7 this week.

“Sure nga kung ma-relieve sila adto ra sa ilang headquarters,” said Supt. Armando Radoc, chief of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division.

Marquez, along with some members of his staff, conducted validation of police blotters nationwide upon the directive of Secretary of Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas to check if the police are being honest in their police records.

Among 151 police stations in Central Visayas, two police chiefs were relieved from their post for negligence.

“It may not be intentional but that is negligence,” Marquez said in a forum.

PRO-7 is the fourth regional headquarters checked by Marquez.  He said he even asked for the relief of almost all police chiefs in PRO-6 and all police chiefs in PRO-5 for committing the same offense.

“Mabuti nga dito dalawa lang (It’s even better here because there are only two,” Marquez said.

He also announced that they would soon use the Crime Incident Recording System, a computerized encoding of crime incidents, which would shorten the process. This means complainants don’t have to wait for a long time for the police to put their complaint on record. – (FREEMAN)