6 days after police director assumes Station chief, 5 others relieved

CEBU, Philippines — Just six days after assuming as Cebu City Police Office Director, Senior Supt. Royina Garma is making her presence felt.

Yesterday, she removed Police Senior Insp. Caesar Acompañado as station commander of the Parian Police Station after he failed to deploy his men on Colon Street for police visibility.

“Eh, wala iyung police niya sa Colon. Mayroon siyang detail na may police daw doon sa Colon pero wala naman. Hinanap ko for 30 minutes pero wala akong nakitang police,” Garma said.

“Supposedly, next week pa ako magri-relieved ng mga ganoon but hindi ko na matiis ang daming tao sa palengke, so hindi puwede iyun,” she added.

She said policemen should be present on Colon Street all the time, particularly at the intersection of Metro Colon where crowds frequent.

Acompañado will be replaced by Police Chief Insp. Kenneth Paul Albotra.   Acompañado will be reassigned to CCPO.

Aside from Acompañado, five cops assigned at the Abellana Police Station were also relieved for allegedly mishandling a mentally ill person.

“Mayroong irregularity at grave misconduct na nagawa nila. Ang sabi ko nga, kapag nandoon sa station, handle it properly. I do not want na may mga cases na na-mishandle or may abuses or may hindi ma-record, etc.,” Garma said.

The station chief, Maria Theresa Macatangay, said one of her men brought to the station a mentally ill woman who allegedly created trouble in the middle of the street. At the station, the woman allegedly spit at the face of another cop, which prompted the policeman to hit her.

The woman went out of the police station and shouted for help just as Garma was going in.

“He admitted nga after siya naluwaan, iyang nadapatan ang buang so nigawas ang buang nisiyagit og tabang nagkataon nga ang atong city director ang nasugatan sa gawas,” Macatangay said.

As directed by Garma, all policemen on duty at that time near the proximity of the incident were made to explain and are now the subject of an investigation.

Garma said the five cops will be assigned on foot patrol and will be made to man traffic at the busy intersection of General Maxilom Avenue and Gorordo Avenue.

“Sa lahat nang mahuhuli ko, mag-foot patrol. Sayang ang sweldo, hindi pa man sila charged, under investigation pa. Just making sure that they are still rendering duty instead na walang ginagawa. Sayang din, they are still police officers, may authority pa din,” Garma said.

Garma said she will not tolerate inefficiency and inconsistencies.

“Even your check points. You text me na nag-checkpoint, make sure na nag-checkpoint ka and then may detail ka diyan na may police sa kanto. Siguraduhin mong may police diyan sa kanto because the next officer in line will be responsible (kung wala),” Garma said.

Engagement

Garma encouraged the public to help keep an eye on authorities and report violations.

Yesterday, CCPO launched Garma’s new program called ‘Itug-an Ni CD,’ which will accommodate public complaints against all forms of criminality in the community and even good and bad deeds of the police.

“The reason why I have decided why we come up with a system on how we could communicate directly to the community. It something like positive, like reporting to me most likely iyung mga reklamo ng mga tao, observation nila sa community,” Garma said.

Two police personnel will be assigned to entertain calls, text, and private messages on social media.

She said the complaints received will be forwarded immediately to the station commanders concerned for immediate action. However, these complaints would also need to be validated.

Garma assured the public that complaints will be considered confidential.

“Hindi lahat ng complaints dito ay ma-aksiyonan agad naming outright. We hope na maintindihan din ng mga nagreklamo because we still need to validate. We need to send police personnel to look into this personally,” she said.

To close the loop, CCPO will reportedly inform the complainant of the specific action taken.

The public can reach out to ‘Itug-an Ni CD’ through the mobile numbers 0966-465-2556 and 0918-268-2846. They may send a message to the ‘Itug-an Ni CD’ Facebook page.

To said she will deploy 180 police personnel from CCPO back to the police stations to augment manpower so that complaints from the public can be responded to faster.

“What I did is equip iyung mga stations natin para maraming tao and to empower them also. Sila ang nasa ground, sila ang nandoon, para mas madali ang response…You’ll expect more police on the ground this time,” Garma said. —  Irene L. Gardose, USJ-R Intern /JMO  (FREEMAN)