Albayalde eyes probe of PNP officials’ feud

MANILA, Philippines — Incoming Philippine National Police chief Director Oscar Albayalde has ordered an investigation of the reported conflict between two PNP officials.

A source at the National Capital Region Police Office told The STAR Albayalde learned that Manila Police District (MPD) Station 9 commander Superintendent Eufronio Obong arrested and charged Senior Superintendent Enrique Ancheta, of the PNP Crime Laboratory, after they allegedly quarreled over a woman who was arrested when two Koreans complained that they lost P60,000 after dating her and another woman.

Two days later, MPD director Chief Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel ordered Obong and his entire intelligence unit relieved after four of his men were arrested in an entrapment operation for arresting an Egyptian man and demanding money to drop drug charges against him. 

Coronel ordered the reassignment of Obong to the district’s holding and accounting unit (DHAU) and tapped MPD intelligence division chief Superintendent Erwin Dayag to replace him. 

Six intelligence officers under Obong who were not arrested in the entrapment operation were also reassigned at the DHAU while awaiting summary dismissal proceedings.

Obong said he arrested Ancheta because was meddling in the conduct of their operation.

Ancheta countered that he was actually responsible for the suspect’s arrest. He accused Obong and his men of releasing the woman without filing a formal complaint, mishandling the investigation and failing to account for the money, which had gone missing.

He added that Obong and his men did not record the incident in the logbook.