SPD chief clarifies promotion fiasco

Southern Police District (SPD) Director Chief Supt. Jose Gutierrez Jr. has yet to come up with a list of Parañaque City policemen whom he would recommend for promotion after the Nov. 1 raid on what officials described as the largest shabu laboratory in Metro Manila.

Gutierrez made the clarification after Parañaque City police chief, Superintendent Ruben Catabona, lamented that only two among the group of policemen who participated in the raid would be recommended for promotion.

"Hindi niya (Catabona) ako naintindihan," Gutierrez said in a phone interview. "The two officers were recommended not for promotion but to receive plaques from the Dangerous Drugs Board."

Gutierrez said the awarding would take place today, to be aired on the radio program of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina.

The SPD chief said he would base his promotion recommendations on the "after-operation report," which he has yet to receive. He added that the recommendation would depend on the work done by each policeman who participated in the raid. "Depende sa nagtrabaho," he said.

But Gutierrez said Senior Police Officer 4 Rolando Santiago of the city police Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) and SPO2 Carlito Joson would most likely be included in his list.

The two were named by Catabona as the two who were supposedly to be recommended for promotion.

Santiago is the officer assigned to the case while Joson was with the group of tanods who apprehended suspect Xuzi Bin Ong in the early hours of All Saints’ Day that led the authorities to the shabu laboratory on Hemlock Street, Executive Heights Subdivision, Barangay Sun Valley.

Gutierrez said the drugs board requested a list of names of policemen as well as village watchmen to be given plaques. "But only two officers and two tanods would be given plaques because of the board’s lack of funds as well," he explained.

The rest of those who participated in the raid would be given letters of commendation by the board, Gutierrez added.

The SPD chief said the two policemen were chosen to receive the plaques because of the ground work that they conducted.

Catabona on Thursday said the morale of the city police was "low" because they seemed to have been deprived of the promotion that they deserve. He quoted Gutierrez as saying that the "higher ups" only recommended two policemen for promotion.

Catabona said morale was low because the raid was a major achievement for the city police. Though he appreciated the commendations given them, Catabona said a promotion "would encourage people more to do their jobs," as well as increase their salaries.

The police chief also said a "demolition job" has been launched against him by the group suspected to have operated the laboratory to distract him from the investigation.

Catabona said the group could be using a former city hall employee who had filed a sexual harassment complaint against him. – Nikko Dizon