DAVAO City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte on Sunday, August 4, 2024, furiously described Police Regional Office-Davao chief Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III as a “professional liar” over his pointless and unjustified basis on the city’s overall crime situation.
In his “Basta Dabawenyo” podcast, Duterte said that the general should have a “theoretical framework, comparative analysis, and case study” to prove his claims that Davao City needs his “initiatives”.
“May conclusion ka eh, jina-justify niyo 'yung ginawa niyo na movement dito, rearrangement ng mga pulis sa Davao, 'yung reshuffling. Una, theoretical framework. Anong ginamit mo na framework diyan? Pinag-aralan mo ba 'yan? Saan mo napulot 'yung mga conclusion mo? Pangalawa, comparative analysis. Pag-aralan mo yung trend at nangyayari sa buong bansa. Case study, meron na bang nangyaring ganito?... Kung professional ka, sagutin mo 'yan,” Duterte said as he mocked Torre’s previous statements, comparing it to answers in Miss Universe pageant.
(You have a conclusion, you justify the movement you have been doing here, the rearrangement of the police in Davao, the reshuffling. First, theoretical framework. What framework did you use there? Did you study that? Where did you get your conclusions? Second, comparative analysis. Study the trend and what is happening all over the country. [Third] case study. Has anything like this ever happened?... If you are a professional, answer that.)
On July 31, Torre told Davao reporters who visited his office at Police Regional Office-Davao Region (PRO-Davao) Camp Quintin Merecido that he has blue books with hardbound covers containing handwritten entries of reported daily crimes since June 2, 2023. He said that this was one of the reasons behind his July 8 decision for the commanders of the 19 police stations to be relieved and the simultaneous changes of city director in DCPO.
According to Torre, several entries in the blue books were either incorrectly listed as crimes or bearing the notation "for record only," which denotes that the entries were made purely for documentation purposes and would not be filed as actual crimes.
Torre said that to avoid any possible cover-up, the Philippine National Police often uses a process called "blotter validation" to confirm reported cases. He moved his subordinates from his previous deployment in Metro Manila to Davao to carry out this process.
“Kasi yan sila nagtatakipan ang mga yan eh. Masisisi nyo ba ako kung mag-isip ako na hindi [nila] sasabihin ang totoo? (Because they’re covering up something. Can you blame me for thinking that they might not tell the truth?),” he said.
Torre also clarified that the falsification of the records would have an impact on law enforcement because it would be impossible for the authorities to prevent crimes in the region by using the appropriate measures, such as sending in more troops or intelligence agents to apprehend the offenders, if the crimes are not accurately documented. DEF