TWENTY-TWO chief of police in Cagayan Valley Region have been relieved for their alleged failure to implement the administration’s anti-illegal drug campaign.
Cagayan Valley acting regional director Chief Supt. Gilbert Sosa said the action against the chiefs of police is part of the reorganization to strengthen Region 2’s all-out war against illegal drugs in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s program.
Duterte has vowed to eradicate illegal drugs in the country within six months.
“We will put the best performing PNP officers on post so that we will meet our target and attain our mission to make Cagayan Valley a drug-free region,” Sosa said.
He earlier challenged his men to double their efforts in the campaign against illegal drugs to meet the target and warned that they will be relieved from their respective posts if they fail to perform well.
Those relieved from Isabela province were:
Supt. Manuel Bringas of Ilagan City Police Station; Supt. Engelbert Soriano of Cauayan City Police Station, Senior Insp. Prospero Agonoy of Quirino Police Station; Senior Insp. Ben Bumanglag of Delfin Albano Police Station; Senior Insp. Jonathan Binayug of Palanan Police Station; Senior Insp. Aladin Revocal of San Pablo Police Station, Senior Insp. Ignacio Layugan of Dinapigue Police Station; Senior Insp. Richard Limbo of Divilacan Police Station; Senior Insp. Ruby Capinpin of Roxas Police Station; Chief Insp. Edgardo Esteban of Maconacon Police Station; Chief Insp. Pilarito Malillin of San Mateo Police Station; and Chief Insp. Mario Fajardo of Luna Police Station.
The six chiefs of police from Cagayan province sacked were:
Chief Insp. Alvin Mabazza of Alcala Police Station; Senior Insp. Antonio Palattao of Allacapan Police Station; Senior Insp. Eugenio Catubag of Rizal Police Station; Senior Insp. Ronald Balod of Sta. Praxedes Police Station; Senior Insp. Mario Maraggun of Calayan Police Station; and Senior Insp. Christopher Danao of Buguey Police Station.
Also relieved from their posts in Nueva Vizcaya province were: Chief Insp. Larry Pinkihan of Kasibu Police Station; Chief Insp. Joeffrey Bulong of Ambaguio Police Station; and Senior Insp. Rudil Bassit of Kayapa Police Station.
In Quirino province, only Senior Insp Alex Orbillo was relieved from his post.
Sosa said the effectivity of the relief of Bringas and Soriano were on Aug. 23 while all others were relieved effective Aug. 24, 2016.
Since Tuesday, 34 police chiefs in Bicol have also been relieved.
Chief Supt. Ramon Melvin Buenafe, director of Police Regional Office-Region 5, said the police chiefs were relieved “for unsatisfactory performance in carrying out Oplan Double Barrel.”
“The relief order took effect on Tuesday after national police evaluators found out that these police officers failed to meet their performance targets in the implementation of Oplan Double Barrel,” he said.
Affected by the revamp were the police chiefs in four towns and two cities in Albay, two cities and five towns in Camarines Sur, six towns in Camarines Norte and five towns each in the provinces of Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.
The Bicol police have begun purging their ranks of those who were proven to be users of illegal drugs, obstructing police operations and coddling drug peddlers.
Since the start of the campaign on July 1, some 23 policemen have been placed under investigation.
Also on Friday, PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa apologized for calling on drug users to kill traffickers and to burn their homes.
Dela Rosa said his emotions got the best of him after meeting victims of drug use in Bacolod.
On Thursday night, speaking to several drug users who had surrendered, Dela Rosa said: “Why don’t you give them a visit, pour gasoline on their homes and set these on fire to register your anger.”
“They’re all enjoying your money, money that destroyed your brain. You know who the drug lords are. Would you like to kill them? Go ahead. Killing them is allowed because you are the victim.”
When asked if Duterte supported Dela Rosa’s call to murder and commit arson, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella denied that was the police chief’s intent.
“There is no such call. It’s a passionate statement,” Abella told reporters on Friday, without elaborating.
Dela Rosa’s comments followed Duterte’s own controversial directives that have sparked criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.
Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a promise to kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals in an unprecedented blitz that would eliminate illegal drugs in six months.
When he took office on June 30, Duterte told a crowd in Manila: “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful.”
Days after his election win, Duterte also offered security officials bounties for the bodies of drug dealers.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard, said such directives “amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law.”
However, Dela Rosa and Duterte have insisted they are working within the law, while their aides have dismissed some of their comments as “hyperbole” meant to scare drug traffickers.
Nevertheless, Dela Rosa told a Senate inquiry this week that the confirmed number of people to have died in the drug war was 1,946.
He said police had shot dead 756 suspects in self-defense.
He said there were another 1,190 killings under investigation, but said they were likely due to drug gangs murdering people who could implicate them, as he hailed the success so far in the crime war.
“I admit many are dying but our campaign, now, we have the momentum,” he told the Senate.