PNP defends choice of Davao police chief

Davao City. INQUIRER FILES

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday defended the designation of Col. Hansel Marantan, who had been involved in a controversial operation in Atimonan, Quezon that left 13 people dead in 2013, as the new director of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO).

Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre, director of the Davao Region police, tapped Marantan to lead the DCPO on Wednesday, the day when the unit saw three leadership changes in 13 hours.

Just six hours after he assumed office as DCPO officer in charge (OIC), Col. Lito Patay, another controversial officer who had been linked to the bloody drug campaign of former President Rodrigo Duterte, was relieved after replacing Col. Rolindo Suguilon, who occupied the post for about two months.

Patay was replaced by Col. Sherwin Butil in the afternoon, but later in the evening, Marantan was named director of DCPO.

Col. Jean Fajardo, PNP spokesperson, said Torre found it necessary to designate new officers after evaluating the performance of the DCPO.

READ: Shakeup in Davao police: 3 city chiefs in 13 hours

“Based on his assessment, he needed to pull out Suguilon, his current deputy director for regional operations who was OIC of DCPO in concurrent capacity, and replace him with Colonel Patay who was also a regional staff … But his designation was meant to be a temporary thing,” she explained.

When the senior officers’ placement and promotion board convened, they deemed it necessary to designate someone in a permanent capacity, thus, naming Marantan, she added.

“The RDs (regional directors) and field commanders are not limited to [choosing] from the third level officers in the designation of key positions in the region. If they believe that this person could help their performance in Davao … we will be giving injustice to the people of Davao if we assign just anyone. Brig. Gen. Torre believes Col. Marantan will deliver what is expected of him,” Fajardo said.

Improved response time

Fajardo said Torre would implement in Davao City the “3-minute response time” of policemen that he initiated when he was the director of the Quezon City Police District.

Early this week, Torre ordered the relief of police commanders in 19 stations and other personnel in his jurisdiction amid “discrepancies” in crime statistics and poor police response time.

Fajardo said the move was also made “to infuse new blood in Davao to be more dynamic and progressive in the DCPO’s programs.” She denied allegations that the recent shakeup was politically motivated.

“We want to assure everyone that this is far from reality, with the current situation being connected to events in Davao because of the current political issues,” Fajardo said.

On June 17, Torre replaced Brig. Gen. Aligre Martinez, relieved barely 50 days after assuming office and three days following the June 10 operation that failed to arrest fugitive televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ sect who is wanted for human trafficking and child sexual abuse charges.

READ: Quiboloy sanctioned by US Treasury Dep’t over corruption, human rights abuse