Maganto’s grievances ‘personal,’ officer says

Chief Superintendent Ro-meo Maganto cried foul yesterday over the assignment of mostly Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduates to top posts in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

But Maganto’s tirades were immediately rebuked by a colleague, Chief Superintendent Lucas Managuelod, who said "Maganto’s comments and grievances were personal and do not represent or reflect the sentiments of our group."

Managuelod was referring to the Police ROTC Graduates for Integrity, Morality and Order (PRIMO), of which he was a founding member and first president. The group has at least 7,000 members.

Maganto, along with Chief Superintendent Steve Cudal, denounced the present PNP reorganization as disadvantageous to non-PMAer police officers.

"The problem is the PNP is being surrounded by a group of friends. We are being treated as second-class officers," Maganto said in a press conference in Makati City.

Maganto said they will exhaust all legal means, including seeking the intervention of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, before they consider anything drastic.

But Managuelod lashed back at Maganto for issuing statements without first consulting the PRIMO board.

"What demoralization? We are fully behind Deputy Director General Leandro Mendoza. I don’t know who is demoralized," he said. — Marvin Sy, Jaime Laude