Cudal fighting a lonely battle?

Is beleaguered Chief Superintendent Steve Cudal now on his own?

Reliable sources said Cudal’s colleagues at the Police ROTC Graduates for Integrity, Morality and Order (PRIMO) have virtually turned their backs on him after he was relieved by Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson from the PNP-Community Relations Group for revealing alleged widespread demoralization in the police organization.

"Instead of supporting Gen. Cudal, the group threw its support behind the PNP chief, thus leaving him virtually on his own," the source told The STAR.

PRIMO is an organization of policemen who are not graduates of the elite Philippine Military Academy (PMA) with about 1,600 members. Due to previously perceived discrimination against non-PMAyers in the PNP, PRIMO was created. Cudal is PRIMO’s vice president.

PRIMO’s position in the Lacson-Cudal feud was arrived at during the group’s special meeting at the Manila Peninsula in Makati City last Monday.

Hours before the special meeting, Chief Superintendent Romeo Maganto, PRIMO’s president, confirmed to The STAR that they were about to hold a meeting to tackle the issue of Cudal’s relief.

"We want to have one voice on the issue. We’ll have a meeting to take a stand," Maganto said earlier. "But it does not mean that we’ll be siding with Gen. Cudal because he is an official of the group, we have to weigh things before making any stand."

Maganto, head of the Department of Interior and Local Government-Special Task Force Katapat II (DILG-STF), could not be reached yesterday for comment about PRIMO’s stand.

Isolation by PRIMO was not the first setback in Cudal’s quest for justice after his "unjust" relief, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court junked the general’s petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).

The court ruled that Cudal should have first sought the intervention of the PNP leadership or the DILG and the National Police Commission (Napolcom), the government agencies that control the police organization.

DILG Secretary Alfredo Lim apparently gave Lacson a free hand to run the police organization.

"Hindi ko alam ang puno’t dulo niyan. Hindi ko masasagot, (I don’t know the real issues, I cannot answer that)," said Lim when asked for his comments on the rift between Lacson and Cudal.