Former Davao police chief is new head of Manila police force

Vicente Danao Jr. —RICHARD A. REYES

Former Davao police chief, Senior Supt. Vicente Danao Jr., took over the Manila Police District (MPD) on Thursday, vowing to purge the ranks of errant lawmen.

His appointment came more than two weeks after PO1 Eduardo Valencia, a member of the Sampaloc police station, was accused by a teen of rape.

According to the 15-year-old girl, Valencia demanded that she have sex with him in exchange for not filing drug charges against her.

The “palit-puri” (sex-for-freedom) scheme highlighted alleged abuses being committed by policemen involved in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Danao said that disciplining “scalawags in uniform” was one of his top priorities. “Manila City has been in the limelight… Some rogue policemen of this unit are involved in different irregularities. Because of this, I’d like to take on this challenge to assume the MPD [leadership],” he told the audience.

Danao later told reporters that sending policemen to the streets, including intensifying foot patrols, was also on his to-do list although “internal cleansing was number one.”

For this, he was planning to put up a hotline where the public could report abuses committed by “scalawags in uniform.”

Danao was the Davao police chief from 2013 to 2016. He landed in the news in 2014 after a viral video showed him beating up his wife Susie.

He was also tagged by confessed hitman Edgar Matobato over his alleged involvement in the Davao Death Squad, a vigilante group believed to be responsible for killings in the city.

Charges were filed against Danao in the Department of Justice but these were eventually dismissed.