47 delinquent cops bound for Mindanao

After being identified as "non-performing assets" and causing frequent "headaches" to their superiors, five police officials and 42 enlisted personnel from the Eastern Police District (EPD) are set to be transferred to Mindanao.

The transfer of the so-called "swell-headed" cops was decided during a meeting last week between Chief Superintendent Rowland Albano, EPD director, and officials from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

"We are just out to teach them a lesson. In Mindanao, they will be on their toes always. They definitely cannot apply what they are doing here like sleeping on the job and committing frequent absenteeism," said a ranking EPD police official.

Out of the 47 policemen, 23 came from the EPD headquarters; five from Marikina City; eight from Pasig City; eight from Mandaluyong and three from San Juan.

Sources said the delinquent policemen, two of them police superintendents (Lt. Colonel), two senior inspectors (captain), and an inspector (lieutenant), were given a chance to mend their ways but only followed instructions several days after their attention was called, the EPD official said.

"They choose their old ways and continue skipping duties in favor of some personal interest," the official added.

Sources said Albano could not be faulted for ordering the transfer of the erring policemen to the strife-torn areas of Mindanao because he was only acting on the recommendations of the four station commanders who had been complaining about the bad habits of the said cops.

The sources explained, Albano recommended that they be transferred only outside the EPD area but Chief Superintendent Efren Fernandez, NCRPO deputy for administration, insisted that they be shipped to Mindanao "to give them a lesson."

Political leaders in Mindanao have openly resented earlier pronouncements made by top Philippine National Police officials, particularly PNP chief Director General Panfilo Lacson, that scalawags in the police force would be reassigned to Mindanao.