Baste gives Davao City cop chief chance to serve

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte has vowed to give Col. Hansel Marantan a chance to lead the city police despite questioning his appointment.

Marantan was the third city police chief to be appointed within a day after Colonels Lito Patay and Sherwin Butil, whose appointments lasted only a few hours.

In his state of the city address, Duterte said that although he was not consulted when the Philippine National Police replaced the city police chief, he is still willing to give Marantan a chance to serve the city.

“If he is going to perform well, why not? If he will just do his job and maintain the peace and order status quo, which all of us are satisfied with, then there will be no problem,” Duterte said.

He admitted that the current political situation has affected the relations between the city government and the police.

He said the national government is “interferring” in the city’s affairs.

Duterte said he would first observe Marantan’s efforts in maintaining peace and order.

“Let’s see if the data will shift, if (the number of) crimes will increase. Let us wait and see,” he said.