Negros Occ. mayors slam Napolcom order

BACOLOD CITY ,Philippines  — All 31 mayors of Negros Occidental unanimously approved Friday a joint resolution strongly opposing a National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) order suspending Mayor Melecio Yap's administrative control and operational supervision over the Escalante City Police.

The resolution was signed by the Negros Occidental Association of Chief Executives (ACE), composed of mayors of 19 towns and 12 cities of the province, except Bacolod City, and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Negros Occidental chapter.

The LMP and Negros ACE members deliberated on the resolution for almost two hours, before it was approved, at a joint meeting in Bacolod presided over by E.B. Magalona town Mayor David Albert Lacson, president of both leagues. Yap said he did not attend the meeting for the sake of "delicadeza."

Lacson said they will furnish the Office of the President, the Department of Interior and Local Government as well as the NAPOLCOM copies of their resolution.

The mayors, in the resolution, said the suspension was hastily promulgated and based on unfounded allegations, and that Yap has not received official copies of the complaints filed against him, concerning his alleged close association with the New People's Army, and the reported occurrence of extra-judicial killings in Escalante.

They said they viewed the development as a "dangerous precedent" that could befall a city or municipality as the NAPOLCOM could arbitrarily take away the supervision and control of the mayor over the local police, based on what it called "unfounded and flimsy" allegations of unknown personalities. They also sought clarification about the situation.

The NAPOLCOM on July 15 ordered the suspension of the administrative and operational control of Yap over the police, citing numerous extra-judicial killings in Escalante City, and his alleged close association with the NPA, based on a "confidential report" from Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, Police Regional Office-6 director.

Yap vehemently denied the accusations and cried foul over the suspension, saying he was not accorded due process.

Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, Negros Occidental Police provincial director, for his part said that, in the absence of guidelines from the NAPOLCOM on the suspension of the deputation of Yap, the mayor still has administrative and operational control of the Escalante Police.

Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Provincial Board committee on peace and order, chaired by PB Member Renato Gustilo (1st dist., Neg. Occ.) and the Carmelite friars in Escalante also expressed support to Yap.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Negros also slammed Querol for tagging the Negros Alliance of Human Rights Advocates and its chairperson, Bernardo Patigas, of being part of the network of the "local communist movement" to which the police official linked Yap.

Patigas admitted in a statement that he and Yap have been "working together" for a long time now, but insisted that this never concerned to any underground activity, only Yap's support to their advocacy in Escalante.