Manila Police District (MPD) director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales has relieved a station commander reportedly over his failure to oversee security preparations for All Saints’ Day.
Jose Abad Santos police station chief Superintendent Joemar Modequillo, who is also the head of Task Group La Loma under Task Force Kaluluwa, reportedly was not around at the La Loma cemetery before and during All Saints’ Day when the MPD was setting up and planning its contingency measures for the security of cemetery-goers.
“He even failed to answer my repeated calls to find out the cause of his absence,” Rosales told The STAR, adding he was informed by a City Hall official that Modequillo was attending a barangay meeting on the raging gang war in Tondo.
“How long will he attend such a meeting?” Rosales shot back.
Modequillo was replaced by Police-Community Relations chief Superintendent Remigio Sedanto, whose post will be occupied by Chief Inspector Rolando Mirando.
Meanwhile, Rosales said no untoward incident occurred at Manila’s four cemeteries – the North and South, La Loma and Chinese – except for the arrest of some 35 persons caught drinking at the cemeteries.
President Arroyo, together with First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and daughter Luli, arrived at the North Cemetery at around 11:55 a.m. to pay her respects to her in-laws at the family mausoleum.
The First Family stayed for 20 minutes, with Mrs. Arroyo agreeing to pose for photos with some cemetery-goers.
Rosales stopped some “enterprising” barangay watchmen from imposing fee, ranging from P50 to P300, on motorists parking their vehicles at the streets around the North Cemetery. The tanods reportedly did not issue receipts.
“There are designated parking areas for visitors in the cemeteries and (motorists) should not be charged,” Rosales said.
He said 1,000 police officers and members of civilian volunteer groups helped maintain peace and order in the North Cemetery, the biggest public cemetery in Manila.
Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, who heads the Task Group North, said an estimated 1.5 million people have visited the North Cemetery as of 2 p.m. yesterday.
There are only two reported missing children yesterday, a far cry from last year, during which the MPD recorded more than 50 missing children, according to Sapitula.
All clear in southern, northern Metro
Meanwhile, Southern Police District (SPD) director Jaime Calungsod said yesterday that no major untoward incident was recorded in the cities of Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Makati, Taguig, Las Piñas and Pateros.
“The situation was peaceful, even traffic flow was smooth, except for those going to the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque where there was traffic build-up because of the increasing volume of vehicles going towards that direction,” he said.
Calungsod said he has been coordinating with all the chiefs of police in the six cities and even in the municipality of Pateros. “We are enforcing intensified police visibility in these areas. We don’t want to give criminal elements any chance to strike,” he said.
The SPD Operations Center has been monitoring around 25 cemeteries spread all over southern Metro Manila.
In the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela, Northern Police District (NPD) director Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango said they have not received reports of any violent incidents.
The NPD has deployed around 800 police officers and thousands of watchmen and volunteers from local government units and barangays.
Tango, however, said the number of cemetery visitors was lower by 10 to 15 percent compared to last year, perhaps because of the intermittent rains. – With Rhodina Villanueva, Pete Laude, Sandy Araneta