Lacson blocking my extension, says Berroya

ANGELES CITY — Controversial police officer Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya said yesterday the camp of his nemesis, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, is working to block his request for a term extension.

Berroya is seeking a term extension of four and a half years, the length of time he spent in jail from 1993 to 1997.

Berroya’s retirement from the Philippine National Police (PNP) was supposed to take effect last Tuesday, his 56th birthday, which under the law is the compulsory retirement age for policemen.

In an interview with The STAR yesterday, Berroya said "it is not really a matter of unfinished tasks, although I have yet a lot of matters to finish in my job, but I just want to be entitled to the four and a half years I unjustly spent in jail in my career."

"I think my critics from (the) Lacson camp would be against my (term) extension, since I have been preempting (Lacson’s) presidential ambitions," Berroya said.

However, he expressed confidence in the integrity of his superiors in the PNP.

Berroya once worked under Lacson until they parted ways in 1991. Berroya was jailed after he was implicated in a kidnapping case, but the Supreme Court cleared him of the charges in 1997.

Under the Arroyo administration, Berroya was appointed PNP intelligence chief and later regional director of the Central Luzon police before he was appointed director of the PNP Civil Security Group based in Camp Crame in September last year. Berroya is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1969.

For Berroya, his request is a matter of principle. "It is not so much (a term) extension that I am asking for as my right to be entitled to my full term in the police service. I lost four and a half years and I want it back."

"I can even retire the day after I have served the four and a half years," he said. "The bottom line is that the Supreme Court cleared me of the charges for which I was jailed."

Berroya said that while he has not yet received any orders to vacate his post at Camp Crame, he would leave his post if ordered to do so.