Saturday, June 28, 2008 BFP chief orders Codilla to stay, stop turnover
SUPT. Esmael Codilla will remain as Cebu City fire marshal, Secretary Cerge Remonde announced yesterday.
A turnover ceremony, supposedly for the embattled Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) official to relinquish command to Chief Insp. Oscar Mayol, did not push through yesterday morning following an order from BFP Chief Enrique Linsangan.
Remonde, who is in Cebu City to supervise the grim task of helping families identify the bodies of passengers of the mv Princess of the Stars, personally assured Codilla when they met at the City Hall yesterday morning.
“Fire marshal Codilla will stay,” the Cebuano Presidential Management Staff director-general told reporters yesterday.
Reassignment
“Don’t worry, you will not be relieved. (But) other people will be relieved,” Remonde told Codilla yesterday.
Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Eleuterio Iturriaga is willing to leave his post as regional director of the BFP in Central Visayas if it means “saving” the bureau.
Iturriaga showed Sun. Star Cebu a copy of Linsangan’s order, which arrived past 7 p.m. Thursday. It was confirmed by Marius Corpus, Department of Interior and Local Government under-secretary for public safety.
Linsangan ordered that the reassignment of bureau officers be held in abeyance “until further study.”
Iturriaga claimed he was just following orders.
This was after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he would make good his threat to kick the BFP out of a city-owned lot their office is occupying if Codilla is relieved as city fire marshal.
Transactions
Osmeña in a text message to Sun.Star Cebu earlier said he was also endorsing Iturriaga’s relief from the BFP 7.
“If that is the view of the mayor, I respect that. But if the public has to sacrifice, I would rather na ako nalang ang aalis,” he said yesterday.
He explained that if the BFP is forced to leave its current office, their administrative, operational and logistical transactions will be affected.
The Patrol 117 is also located at the BFP 7 office.
“I hope that one day, he (Codilla) will become regional director so that he will know how I feel,” Iturriaga said.
Since Supt. Aderson Comar was reassigned to the main office in Manila, Iturriaga said the post as assistant regional director for operations has been vacant and that Codilla was the best officer in the region suited for the position.
Codilla, for his part, said the relief and the charges against him were “pure harassment”.
He said that if he indeed had discrepancies in his documents, he should only be asked to pay for the amount himself and not charged with malversation because the bureau had not spent anything yet.
Harassment
He accused Iturriaga of doing everything to get him out of Cebu City.
“Naa lang gyud na siya’y bad blood kanako,” Codilla said, adding that he did not defy any orders and even received the order to be relieved.
He said he began packing his things when he was told that the turnover would not push through.
Iturriga, though, said he was only following orders from higher headquarters and only issued relief orders because he received them from the central office.
Codilla said he has continually refused to comment on issues but that the latest attempt to get him out of the Cebu City Fire Station forced him to air his side.
The top leadership of the BFP has recommended last week the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Codilla for his alleged failure to account for more than P400,000 in debts to a gasoline station.
A fact-finding committee from the BFP central office recommended the filing of a criminal complaint of malversation of public funds and an administrative complaint of grave misconduct against Codilla.
He was also deemed “overqualified” for the position of fire marshal and was supposed to hold another position at the regional office.
But as early as March last year, when the funds issue was hurled against Codilla, Mayor Osmeña had warned the BFP to beware against trying to remove Codilla, whom he describe as doing an outstanding job as fire marshal.
The mayor had said that if the BFP will again make moves to remove Codilla, he will strike back.
It appears his threat will be carried out. (RHM/MEA)
