POLICE Regional Office-Davao (PRO-Davao) Director Brigadier General Nicolas D. Torre III responded to Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte’s comment that he would slap him because his idea of a three-minute emergency quick response in the city is “unrealistic."
Torre said in an interview with GMA Regional TV One Mindanao on July 31 that Duterte’s opinion was just a total waste of his energy and has decided not to respond further.
"He is not worth responding to. Hindi ko alam ang frame of mind nya nung sinabi nya yun. (I don't know what was framed in his mind when he said that) Professional akong pulis. (I am a professional police) But let me make this clear: To threaten is one thing but to actually do it is an entirely different thing," Torre said.
Duterte recently made the statement with his signature humor style with several profanity words during his “Basta Dabawenyo” podcast aired on his official Facebook page on July 29, 2024.
“Isa ka buwan na kini sa PRO pero naa bay nabag-o? Unsay nahitabo sa iyang response rule? Has anything changed? Wala. Does he want us to expect nga pag-abot sa panahon nga naa ng three-minute response nya mahuman nang problemaha na, then show us. Hawud man kaha ka. Lamia sagpaon ning tawhana, kung makit-an nako na sagpaon gyud nako na (It's been a month in PRO but has anything changed? What happened to his response rule? Has anything changed? Nothing. Does he want us to expect that the three-minute response can solve this problem and if so, then show us. You think you are a hot shot. It’s really a pleasure to slap this person, if I find him I will definitely slap him),” Duterte said, adding that fighting with a general through physical violence has been his ambition.
The city’s highest political official also furiously expressed that he is disappointed in the massive shakeup in the police agency as it was done without his consent. This includes the appointment of chiefs in the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) since March this year.
He later compared the new RD of PRO-Davao to DCPO City Director, Colonel Hansel Marantan saying, “Di pareho ni Torre nga daghan na siya og yawyaw (he has already talked a lot)... Even without presenting an analysis.”
On June 16, Torre promised to bolster the region's 911 emergency systems and use state-of-the-art technologies to enable prompt response times.
He said that once the upgraded Davao 911 service becomes operational, it will be able to compete with other medical response teams from the nation's most urbanized regions, such as Quezon City and other cities in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“Nothing really new, spectacular. One of the things siguro is… the implementation of 911. Considering that Davao City is the birthplace of 911. Let us see if we can achieve [this] na pag kayo na nag-dial ng emergency number we can be there in just three minutes or reasonable time (Nothing really new, spectacular. One of the things is probably… the implementation of 911. Considering that Davao City is the birthplace of 911. Let us see if we can achieve [this] when you dial the emergency number we can be there in just three minutes or a reasonable time),” the highest police official in the region said during his assumption as the PRO-Davao director at the PRO-Davao Bagani Hall, Camp Catitipan, Davao City. DEF