Pasay police force back in action

Fresh from re-training, members of the original Pasay City police force resume their posts today.

And interim city police chief, Senior Superintendent Oscar Catalan has one simple advice to the policemen: Remember to serve and protect, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) motto goes.

Catalan, the Southern Police District-Intelligence and Investigation chief, admitted that Pasay’s police work needed improvement and this has been addressed by the re-training program.

For his part, Pasay Mayor Wenceslao "Peewee" Trinidad said "the policemen will be back with additional knowledge and that’s good for the residents and the city." Trinidad said he could not evaluate the performance of the interim police force considering that its members were in the city for only 20 days.

Catalan said the original police force will return lock, stock, and barrel, as ordered by Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Edgardo Aglipay. Days before the policemen left for retraining in Subic, their families and Trinidad appealed to Aglipay that they would not be reassigned. But Trinidad has also said he preferred that the "scalawags" would not return to the city.

Aside from reminding the Pasay policemen to perform their duties well, Catalan also asked them to keep their offices clean. Catalan and members of the interim force were shocked to see the dirty and dilapidated offices, from the headquarters to the police community precincts. They had the offices cleaned and repainted, using money from their own pockets, they said.

The 341-strong Pasay police force was ordered relieved by then PNP chief Deputy Director General Leandro Mendoza after the bungled hostage rescue operation of Dexter Balala, 4, last May 31 at the Philtranco bus station in Malibay. Balala and his hostage taker, Diomedes Talbo, were both killed in the incident.

Then Pasay police chief, Superintendent de la Cerna, who was the ground commander, and 20 other policemen who responded to the scene were later criminally and administratively charged. The rest of the Pasay City policemen were ordered to take a retraining course in crisis management.

Last week, the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) ordered De la Cerna’s forced resignation and the dismissal of seven others. The rest were cleared for lack of evidence. The slain boy’s parents, on the other hand, had withdrawn the homicide charges they filed against the policemen amid rumors that they received P250,000 as settlement. — Nikko Dizon