Wednesday, December 20, 2006 Police chief denies he was drunk during fiesta
CHIEF Insp. Teofilo Siclot denied he was drunk during the town fiesta of Carcar last month and said a member of the town council was spreading rumors about him so he will be kicked out of the post in the southern Cebu town.
In an interview with reporters yesterday, Siclot declined to name the town councilor who he said had been trying to get rid of him since May.
He said the town councilor had asked him and his men to release a person arrested for creating trouble.
He said they could not do this because there was a complainant who wanted to pursue a case.
He expects more policemen from the town will be relieved because they were the ones behind the arrest.
Letter
Siclot showed reporters a letter from Mayor Patrick Barcenas commending him and the rest of the Carcar Police Station’s force for doing a good job in the town’s festivities.
The letter expressed “deepest heartfelt gratitude” for the support extended during the Mayor’s Cup, first mountain bike challenge.
Siclot was relieved from the Carcar Police Station last Dec. 12 upon the recommendation of Barcenas.
In an earlier interview, Barcenas told Superbalita he was no longer satisfied with Siclot’s performance. The mayor said he was forced to man traffic during the town fiesta last month because Siclot was drunk and no one was left at the police station.
Barcenas had said Siclot was arresting people for no reason only because he had given earlier orders to keep drunk persons off the streets during the fiesta.
But Siclot told reporters he talked to Barcenas after reading the Superbalita report and said the mayor denied he was the source of the information.
More to go
Siclot said he was at the police station the whole time because he was waiting for somebody.
He said he would not be surprised if there will be more policemen from the town to be relieved in the coming days because of the town councilor’s prodding.
He said the town councilor managed to cut the annual allocation given by the town to the police station.
He said he was normally summoned during budget hearings but during the last one, they were not asked to attend.
He said he only learned that from P700,000, their budget was cut to just P260,000. (MEA)
