CEBU City Police Office (CCPO) Director Royina Garma will relieve all members of the drug enforcement units (DEU) following the arrest of an anti-narcotics operative last Friday night, June 7, 2019.
The relief order will include the DEU operatives under 11 police stations and CCPO headquarters, and Labangon Police Station Chief Keith Allen Andaya.
Garma convened the police station chiefs for an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon, June 10.
She announced that the CCPO’s procedures in conducting anti-narcotics operations will be reviewed.
Garma said DEU operatives are prone to temptation because they often confiscate illegal drugs.
Last June 7, the Pardo Police Station-DEU caught Labangon Police Station’s DEU operative Rogelio R. Atillo in a drug bust in Barangay Basak Pardo. Atillo yielded a 15-gram pack of “shabu.” The arresting officers also confiscated his government-issued pistol and the marked bills he accepted from a police officer, who had pretended to be a buyer.
Garma said Andaya will be relieved because of the “command responsibility” principle.
Andaya will be assigned in the CCPO headquarters pending the result of the investigation.
“He will be investigated and charged, according to Regional Director Debold Sinas. It is called command responsibility,” Garma said. (From AYB of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)