Davao police director tells troops: Hold your head high amid ridicule, criticisms

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Faced by animosity first from the Davao city mayor and then recently from members of the KOJC, Police Brig. General Nicolas Torre III, director of the Police Regional Office 11, tried to buoy the morale of the police force here early this week by reminding them that they were professional policemen and that they were only doing their duty to enforce the law.

On Thursday, police personnel at a checkpoint at the KOJC Compound here were ordered to remove their facemasks following Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s statement at a senate inquiry on Tuesday of its “intimidating effect” to the public.

But Torre said he considered such complaint or criticism part of the harassment that the local policemen had been getting from friends and followers of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of the KOJC accused of child abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking at the Pasig and Davao City courts.

READ: 2,000 cops surround KOJC complex, arrest warrant vs. Quiboloy served anew

Dela Rosa was presiding over Tuesday’s senate hearing on the alleged use of excessive force in a police operation at the KOJC compound when he asked Police Col. Hansel Marantan, acting chief of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), why police personnel deployed at the checkpoint were wearing masks.

Torre told the Inquirer on Thursday, August 22, that the facemasks had already been ordered taken down.

Police checkpoint

Earlier this week, Torre told troops gathered in a flag ceremony at Camp Quintin Merecido here that KOJC members had been complaining of the police checkpoint near their compound but the police never heard of any complaint from people in the airport, the hotel, warehouse and other establishments which the checkpoint also helped secure.

“Sabi nila, meron tayong checkpoint diyan malapit sa kanila kaya naha-harass sila, bakit ang mga taga-airport, hindi naman naha-harass, may mga hotel sa tapat, hindi naha-harass, at ang isa nating checkpoint sa dulo sa harap ng napakalaking warehouse, wala tayong reklamong naririnig?” he asked. “It’s because their leader has a warrant and one of the co-accused was already arrested.”

He said policemen were being “ridiculed” because they were following orders. “They ridicule us, hindi ba sila nahihiya? Sinususian sila ng taong may warrant, na may kasong (Aren’t they ashamed? They are being controlled by a person who has a warrant of arrest for the cases of) child abuse, a child molester?” he asked. “Tell them, we are professional policemen, you are being controlled by a person that has a warrant of arrest, a fugitive from the law,” he told the troops.

“If you are ridiculed, hold your head high because we are just doing our job, no one is complaining (against the checkpoint) except (those who are) protecting a fugitive, a criminal hiding from the law,” he said, adding that the police should not to get affected by such criticisms as to prevent them from doing their job.

Torre also said that the local government, referring to Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, had quieted down because the police was able to show that the three-minute police response was possible in the city.

He also said that General Rommel Francisco Marbil, the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) had made the three-minute police response a policy to be replicated by all police units across the country.

“Let’s cheer ourselves up because only two regions were mentioned by the Chief PNP in his example; and these are the NCRPO (National Capital Region Police Office) and the PRO 11. We are now the benchmark of the three-minute police response in the whole country,” he said.

He said that on August 9, someone ran amok in Marikina and the police were able to respond within 2:47 minutes. At 3:58 pm there was a stabbing in Davao City, where the police responded in less than three minutes.