BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia should appoint a new People’s Law Enforcement Board (Pleb) chairman, a city councilor said on Monday, February 25.

Councilor Dindo Ramos, vice chairperson of the City Council committee on police matters, said until now, they do not have complete details on when Councilor Ricardo Tan, chairman of Pleb, will return to work.

“We should have a new Pleb chairman so we can resolve the remaining pending cases filed against the policemen in Bacolod,” he said.

Since Tan was on leave, the members of Pleb failed to conduct hearing on pending cases, he said.

Tan has not attended the regular session of the City Council after he was ambushed, along with his wife, in Barangay Alangilan on December 14, 2018.

The couple was unharmed but their car was riddled with bullets.

Pleb is the central receiving entity for any citizen's complaint against officers and members of the Philippine National Police. It also conducts hearings, resolves, and renders a decision on cases filed against the erring police officers.

“So it’s up to the city mayor to choose the new Pleb chairman,” Ramos said.

Other members of Pleb include Barangay Granada captain Alfredo Talimodao Jr., representing the villages; lawyer Jovim Entila of Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Negros Occidental Chapter; former councilor Celia Flor of the women’s sector; and Antonio Te from the private sector.

When Tan assumed his post as chairman of Pleb, they already dismissed about 20 of 24 pending cases. The remaining four cases are up for board resolutions and hearing.

These are all administrative cases filed against the policemen.

The cases were dismissed after most of the complainants failed to appear during the hearings while some of the respondents are already retired from the service. (MAP)