Querol insists no conflict with Mayor Yap

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, Jr., Police Regional Office-6 director, believed that there was no conflict amid Escalante City Mayor Melecio Yap being stripped of police control.

Querol yesterday maintained there was no tension between Yap and the local police headed by Supt. Leo Batiles because what happened was merely a "call of the situation."

Querol also called on the local police to continue their support to the local government of Escalante City.

In a resolution, the National Police Commission ordered the suspension/withdrawal of deputation of Yap as deputy of the Napolcom.

Over the weekend, Yap announced he is seeking for reconsideration before the Office of the President on the Napolcom's order to strip him of control over his city's police station.

The Napolcom, headed by DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, ordered the suspension of the administrative and operational control of Yap over the Escalante Police Station due to several extra-judicial killings in the city and the allegations of his close association with the New People's Army.

Yap countered that the suspension order does not have much effect on him because he has been bypassed before, although he clarified that he has been satisfied with the performance of Batiles.

In the Napolcom resolution, it was stated that Yap was alleged to have "provided material support to criminal elements" and "engaged in acts inimical to national security which negate the effectiveness of the peace and order campaign."

In a progress report on the killings in Escalante submitted to Robredo, Querol reportedly recommended that the administrative and operational control of Yap over the Escalante City police be "temporarily suspended until such time that the situation improves." — THE FREEMAN