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Monday, April 11, 2005
Mayor still has faith in cop chief
THE trouble brewing inside the Cagayan de Oro Police Office won't cripple the operations of Cagayan de Oro City, Mayor Vicente Emano said.
Emano said he remains confident that the city police leadership would solve its internal problems soon even as he expressed hope that the city police can get its act together and provide security against the continuing terror threat in the city.
The City Government is not yet relaxing the security procedures imposed during the Holy Week observance when it decided to its retain the crisis committee, stationed at the Divisoria Kiosk.
City officials still report at the crisis committee for their respective duty schedules. Concerns were raised over the city police following after it was struck by several controversies.
City Police Director Honorio Cervantes was charged by four of his own men of allegedly violating a law penalizing the obstruction of apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders.
Senior Superintendent Paciano A. Deloso, the former chief of Operations and Plans Division (OPD), and three other policemen formerly assigned at the Special Operations Unit (SOU) are pursuing the case against Cervantes.
Deloso was relieved and transferred to the General Assignment Section (GAS). His transfer is seen as a demotion.
The other three policemen were also relieved from SOU and reassigned to the different precincts in the city.
Agreement
The "re-assignment" of the four policemen, Cervantes said, is part of the police office's "continuing revamp," and had nothing to do with the case against him since this was done before the case surfaced.
The four policemen accused Cervantes of illegally releasing a woman on February 28, hours after being nabbed by SOU operatives led by Senior Police Officer 2 Jerry R. Abella, for alleged possession of illegal gambling paraphernalia.
The arrest of 31-year-old Marites Dagandan, a resident of Zone 5 Bugo, this city occurred in Tiano-Makahambus Sts., together with other SOU members Senior Police Officers 1 Julius P. Roa and Alex B. dela Peña.
The officers said Dagandan signed an agreement made by the Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Division (CIID) personnel and that she was released through orders issued by Cervantes.
A copy of the affidavit, filed on April 1 at the Municipal Trial Courts in the Cities (MTCC) Branch 4, was obtained by Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
As the Officer of the Day at the time of the arrest, Deloso asked the apprehending officers the status of the suspect, Senior Police Officer 2 Abella told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in an interview.
Abella said they were forced to file charges against Cervantes for fear that Deloso, as the official on duty during the arrest, would charge them for the suspect's release.
"Natingala si Sir Deloso kay nganong wala gi-file ang kaso. Ako siyang giingnan nga gi-release man ni direktor ang suspek (Sir Deloso wondered why the case wasn't filed. I told him that director (Cervantes) released the suspect)," Abella said.
"Naay katungod si Sir Deloso nga pangitaan mi sa suspect kay kami gud ang nagdakop ug atol nga siya ang naka-duty nga opisyal (Sir Deloso has the right to hold us responsible for the suspect because we were the apprehending officers and he was at that time the official on duty)," he added.
Promise
A copy of the alleged agreement, a copy of which was obtained by Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro, purportedly contained Dagandan's "agreement" or "promise" not to engage in illegal numbers game in the city.
The document was signed by Dagandan but there were no signatures to the blank lines under the word "Witnesses".
The alleged agreement also contained a handwritten notation that reads: "Subject is release in good condition. Per verbal instruction of the City Director."
No signature from the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Division's (CIID) personnel was found, although the one-page document was titled "agreement".
But Cervantes said his accusers are just "sour-grapping" after he removed them from their respective positions.
"They are moving heaven and earth to oust me," Cervantes told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
"Akala nila na kung matagal na sila diyan ay hindi na sila gagalawin pa (They thought that because they've been there for long, they would not be transferred somewhere else)," Cervantes said.
Cervantes also assured the public that the city police's operations would not be impaired with the current rift inside the city police office.
With the case filed against him, Cervantes said he has already anticipated a smear campaign "instigated" against him.
He said issues like his malversation case in 2001 when he was still the Regional Training School (RTS) 10 director and the latest case are part of various schemes to destroy his leadership. (Danilo V. Adorador III)
(April 11, 2005 issue)
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