CEBU City mayor-elect Edgardo Labella will endorse Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan as the new Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief, replacing Colonel Royina Garma, who will retire from her post.
Garma was recently appointed general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office by President Rodrigo Duterte.
On Friday, June 28, Police Regional Office 7 Director Debold Sinas announced that Vinluan would be the next city police chief, but it will be finalized only once the new mayor will write his endorsement letter to Camp Crame.
“I am seriously considering her as the next CCPO director to replace Colonel Garma. As I read over her curriculum vitae, I was impressed by her previous assignments and her fight against drugs and criminality,” Labella said.
Labella said a letter to Philippine National Police Chief General Oscar Albayalde of his endorsement will be one of the things he will make the moment he will sit as the new chief executive of Cebu City starting Sunday noon or after his inauguration on June 30, 2019.
Labella had lauded Garma’s performance as the first woman Cebu City police chief for the past two years that resulted in the arrest of thousands of people who were involved in the illegal drug trade and the seizure of millions of pesos worth of illegal drugs.
Earlier, Camp Crame first considered the names of Police Colonel Marvin Marcos, Angela Rejano and Lito Patay as the next CCPO chief, but Labella said he had someone else in mind.
Labella earlier said he was not picky with the gender, but he wanted a police chief who was “not involved in summary killings.”
He said he prefers someone who has dignity, dedication to service and commitment to fight criminality.
He said he prefers a police chief who has a strong stand against illegal drugs and who can keep corruption out of the Cebu City police force.
Under the Local Government Code, the mayor can recommend three contenders of his choice to be police chief. But it is still Camp Crame that has the final say on who gets the assignment.
Vinluan is a classmate of Garma at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) class 1997 who is seen to continue the programs and projects of Garma. (from PAC of SuperBalita Cebu/VLA)