CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña remained vocal about his suspicions that police may have had a hand in the series of attacks that made headlines over the last six months.
The most recent pronouncement made by the mayor was that a former station commander allegedly masterminded three separate attacks, two of which involved officials of Barangay Calamba.
Because of this, Osmeña has asked Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Senior Supt. Royina Garma to transfer outside of the city Chief Insp. Chuck Barandog.
Osmeña also warned Garma that he would file a complaint against her if the latter will not heed his request to assign a Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team to police mobile units and establish a detachment in hot spots.
In his news conference yesterday, the mayor told reporters that he has raised his concerns about Barandog to Garma even before she assumed office as the new CCPO director last July.
“He has a bad reputation and had some activities. I gave the warning to Garma even before the (May 14) barangay elections,” he said.
Barandog, who reportedly has no current assignment, served as station chief of Police Station 6 for 20 months before leaving to pursue further studies in 2015.
Under his leadership, Police Station 6 in Sawang Calero was named best in police community relations.
Barandog was also awarded as the 2015 best police commissioned officer for community relations by the Police Regional Office 7.
He later on served as chief of the Criminal and Investigation and Detection Group 7 Cebu City Field Unit.
“He’s very active. He’s the suspect in the shooting of Ahmed (SPO2 Armando Lozano)...the suspect in the killing of konsehal Eldi (barangay councilman Hildibrando Ygonia) in Calamba. He’s the suspected mastermind in the strafing of the car of (another Calamba councilman Richard) Buscaino,” Osmeña said.
“Basta that’s what I hear so he’s my suspect. They have a list, I have a list. (SPO1 Roderick) Balili (whom Osmeña had accused of being behind the death of an anti-narcotics agent) was on my list,” he added.
City Hall reporters tried to get Barandog’s comment, but did not get any response.
Lozano is a dismissed policeman who escaped death after two assailants barged into a Parents-Teachers’ Association meeting in Labangon Bliss Elementary School last July 19.
Ygonia, on the other hand, succumbed to a gunshot wound on the head three days after he was shot by an unidentified gunman in Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Calamba last June 22.
Last Feb. 24, two of San Fernando Funeral Parlor’s hearses owned by Buscaino were damaged when two unidentified gunmen strafed the vehicles.
The councilman’s vehicle was also strafed on Katipunan St., near his funeral parlor, at 1 a.m last March 4.
Osmeña, though, admitted that he has no footage to support his suspicions.
“No (footage) that’s why maybe people will give me, but we have information about his activities,” he said.
But what if Garma will not grant the mayor’s request to transfer Barandog?
“I don’t know. I think it’s more important that people right now are monitoring,” he said.
As for his request to CCPO to establish a police detachment and assign Swat personnel, Osmeña said he is anticipating that Garma may not heed it.
In a memorandum dated Aug. 8, Osmeña asked Garma to assign at least two Swat personnel to ride in police patrol cars.
The mayor also asked Garma to deploy a permanent detachment of eight policemen to man a check point in Barangay Sinsin to screen alleged illegal hauling of aggregates and transport of firearms and drugs.
Osmeña said the memorandum is in observance with Republic Act (RA) 6975, which establishes the Philippine National Police (PNP) under a reorganized Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Local Governmetn Code.
Section 51 b of RA 6975 provides the operational supervision and control of city and/or municipal mayors over the PNP units or forces.
“I will file a complaint. I’m authorized to deploy. Anyway if they’re going to disobey me, I know that. I just want to put it on record,” the mayor said. (RTF)