1,143 Caloocan cops’ retraining set

MANILA, Philippines — The 1,143 police officers who were removed from the Caloocan City police force will start retraining on Monday, an official said yesterday.

The police officers were relieved after their colleagues were accused of killing two teenagers and conducting an illegal drug raid to rob a resident.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde said all of the relieved police officers would be retrained at the same time.

The simultaneous retraining was ordered by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa, who also shortened the training period to 30 days from 45 days, Albayalde said.

The NCRPO chief announced the new training arrangement as he formally deployed 448 police officers from the Regional Public Safety Battalion to replace the last 543 Caloocan police officers.

Observing that some of the Caloocan police officers were talking during his speech, Albayalde lashed out.

“If you think you cannot follow the order, you can resign. If you cannot understand why you are being transferred, you can resign. You’re luckier than those who were assigned in Marawi and yet they don’t complain,” he said during the turnover ceremony at the Northern Police District headquarters.

No one replied when Albayalde challenged those complaining about their transfer to speak out.

Albayalde told The STAR that he is at a loss on where to accommodate the 1,143 police officers as they have no vacant building left at Camp Bagong Diwa except for a “tent city” near the camp’s main gate.

He said that during the retraining, the police officers would undergo a reorientation on ethics and values formation and other refresher courses.

Once the police officers complete their retraining, they would be reassigned to different police stations in Metro Manila except Caloocan, Albayalde said.