CEBU City Police Office (CCPO) Director Royina Garma said she would inform President Rodrigo Duterte about Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s alleged illegal activities in a meeting scheduled Monday, May 6. But only if asked.
The President earlier lambasted Osmeña in one of his visits to Cebu.
Garma also said Osmeña’s information about the illegal gambling investigation against her was outdated. She said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had already cleared her.
The police official said Duterte personally summoned her to a face-to-face meeting.
“I was directed by the President to report to him personally today. I don’t know kung anong agenda (what the agenda is). Kasi hindi naman ako pinatawag dahil, I’m sure hindi ‘yan (Osmeña) (I’m pretty sure he didn’t ask for me so we could discuss the mayor). It’s a separate issue,” she said.
Garma, in a phone interview, said she hopes the President will ask her about Osmeña’s attacks against her and the police. She said she is ready to tell Duterte about what she knows of the mayor’s alleged illegal activities, including his poker playing in illegal gambling dens.
Garma clarified that it was not her style to volunteer information that could ruin someone.
“When asked, I answer... I don’t do it unless tinanong ako (I am asked). That’s it,” she said.
The CCPO director also dismissed Osmeña’s recent allegation that she was involved in illegal gambling in Bohol when she was still chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
During the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan’s (BOPK) miting de avance last Sunday, May 5, the mayor accused Garma of receiving P1 million a week as payola from illegal gambling. He said there’s a letter from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office that tags Garma as having been involved in the illegal numbers game in the neighboring province during her stint at the CIDG.
Comelec intervention
“That was a long time ago. The mayor’s intel must be very weak. But why bring up the issue now? Whoever is feeding him this information, the timing is very obvious. My God, let’s talk instead about the photo of him playing poker, which has gone viral. It’s clearly him in the picture. What more proof do you need? As for the issue against me, it was all part of intrigue, and I survived it. I was cleared. It’s finished. It’s history,” Garma said in Tagalog.
Garma believes Osmeña is singling out the CCPO because he cannot control the organization.
“He can’t bully us into doing his bidding, so he goes after us with these accusations. But I’m not demoralized. I will continue to do what is needed to ensure that the May 13 election will become an honest election and not only peaceful,” she said in Tagalog.
In a related development, an adopted son of Cebu, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate the alleged partisan activities of the local police.
The senator said Comelec “should step in before things get out of hand.”
Osmeña and Garma both filed charges and counter charges on alleged harassment from both sides.
Lacson in a tweet on Monday said: “Cebu City is a case of the PNP (Philippine National Police) dipping their fingers into partisan local politics.”
The senator said Osmeña has his hands full dealing with rival candidates and the city’s own police force.
Lacson served as commander of the Cebu Metrodiscom from 1989 to 1992.
Standing order
He was named an adopted son of Cebu in a Cebu City Council Resolution in 1991 with Osmeña as the mayor.
Superbalita Cebu tried to get the reaction of Garma, who was in Manila, but her cellular phone was not on.
Police Regional Office 7 Director Debold Sinas, for his part, has assured that police in the region remain non-partisan.
Sinas also said he had no problem if the Comelec did decide to intervene.
“The PNP will always remain neutral in the coming elections. We don’t have a problem with Comelec verifying the actions of members of the CCPO. We will always follow the lead of Comelec,” the police official said.
Police Colonel Manuel Abrugena, Cebu Provincial Police Office director, echoed Sinas’ statement, saying he and his men are not picking sides.
He said he is heeding Chief PNP Oscar Albayalde’s standing order to remain neutral during the midterm elections.
“The CPNP has issued verbal and written directives reminding us to be non-partisan and to observe non-partiality in the performance of our duties this coming election. We are willingly following this because of our mandate to do so,” Abrugena said.
Osmeña’s attacks against the CCPO began after last month’s strafing incidents involving his allies in the mountain barangays. He said the police were behind the attacks.
During the BOPK’s miting de avance last Sunday, the mayor also accused the CCPO of conducting checkpoints around the venue, which was the Cebu City Sports Center, and stopping only the vehicles of his supporters and not those of members of Barug PDP-Laban. (From AYB of SuperBalita Cebu, PJB, with MVG)