THE transfers of the acting directors of the Negros Occidental and Bacolod City police forces were part of the Philippine National Police's (PNP) standard practice to reshuffle police heads before every election, said the regional police head.
Chief Superintendent Conrado Capa, acting director of the Police Regional Office in Negros Island Region (PRO-18), said the order to reassign Senior Superintendent Samuel Nacion, former acting director of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Noppo), and Senior Superintendent Melchor Coronel, former acting director of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), came from PNP top brass and had no political influences.
“The regional command had nothing to do with it. The recommendation came from the national headquarters,” Capa said.
Senior Superintendent William Señoron takes over as head of the Noppo, while Senior Superintendent Flynn Dongbo now leads BCPO. Both start work at their new posts on January 12.
Nacion and Coronel await reassignment and are temporarily stationed at the PRO-18.
Capa brushed aside rumors that the transfers may have been politically motivated due to the orders being issued on January 9, a day before the election period started on January 10.
Nacion met with Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. at the Capitol on January 11 to thank him for accommodating him for eight months and for the governor's support to the provincial police.
The former Noppo acting director said he will follow the order because “this is part of our public service.”
In April 2015, Marañon asked for Señoron to succeed Senior Superintendent Milko Lirazan, who was the outgoing Noppo director then. However, Señoron still held the rank of Superintendent at the time. Provincial police directors are required to have the rank of at least senior superintendent.
Señoron has since been promoted and now qualifies for the post he serves.
In Bacolod City, Superintendent Calixto Mabugat, deputy city director for administration of the BCPO, said they received the order regarding Coronel's relief by radio from the PRO-18 on January 9.
Mabugat, who lead the command conference at the BCPO headquarters on Monday (January 11), reminded station chiefs to give their full support to the new acting director to ensure an orderly and peaceful 2016 elections.
Coronel said being reassigned is part of the job, and said he was thankful for the support of the city's police force.
Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor, spokesperson of the PNP, said in a press statement issued January 11 that the PNP reassigned 740 police unit commanders across the country, especially those who had served at their posts for more than two years, as was PNP policy.
Among the transferees were 25 provincial police directors, nine city police directors, 27 provincial maneuver unit commanders, 147 police station chiefs, and 532 other officers occupying various posts.
The tenures of Nacion and Coronel, who served their posts for around eight months each, were marked by a significant increase in drug busts in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
Noppo seized P13.47 million worth of illegal drugs in 2015, posting an increase of about 300 percent compared to the previous year’s P5.17 million.
Drug recoveries in BCPO, meanwhile, was 1,716 percent higher last year compared to 2014, with P20 million worth of drugs seized in 2015 from P1.104 million in 2014.