Police demoralized by relief of 13 officers in W. Visayas

ILOILO CITY—The simultaneous relief of 13 police chiefs in Western Visayas due to alleged underreporting of crime statistics has resulted in low morale among many policemen and police stations.

Policemen who talked with the Inquirer on condition of anonymity said many policemen believed the relief orders issued by the national headquarters were harsh and unjust.

“There is no intentional underreporting but there are several factors, mainly technical and logistical, that are causing problems with the new reporting system. The weaknesses in the reporting system should have been smoothened out first before administrative sanctions were meted out,” a policeman who has knowledge on the reporting system told the Inquirer.

He asked not to be identified for lack of authority to issue a statement on the matter and to avoid earning the ire of higher police officials.

On Oct. 18, Philippine National Police  chief Director General Alan Purisima ordered the relief of the police chiefs, including a provincial director, for allegedly underreporting crime statistics by nearly half of the cases in their areas of designation. They are also facing precharge investigation for possible administrative liabilities.

Those ordered relieved and replaced by their respective deputies were Senior

Supt. Pedrito Escarilla, Aklan police director; Senior Insp. Joeffer Cabural, chief of the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center, the island’s police force; Senior Insp. Elberto Pudadero (Santa Barbara town, Iloilo province);  Supt. David Cachumbo Jr. (Bago City, Negros Occidental province); Senior Insp. Anthony Grande (Pulupandan town, Negros Occidental); Supt. Calixto Mabugat (Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental), and Supt. Rosauro B. Francisco Jr. (Silay City, Negros Occidental).

Also relieved were Senior Insp. Ahlie Estember (Jordan town, Guimaras province), Chief Insp. Norby Escobar (San Jose town, Antique province), Insp. Frankie Gatila (Libertad town, Antique), Supt. John Limwell Villafranca (Kalibo town, Aklan province), Senior Insp. Ricky Bontogon (Ibajay town, Aklan), and Senior  Insp. Francisco Balais (Buruanga town,  Aklan).

One of the relieved police chiefs said the relief orders were part of their job but he would have wanted to be relieved with a good record.

“We hope the headquarters will reconsider our situation because it was not our intention to underreport the crime statistics,” he told the Inquirer on a condition that his identity be withheld.

The relief of the officials was prompted by the result of an audit on police blotters from January to June this year by a team from the PNP’s Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM). The report on the audit conducted from Sept. 9 to 20 showed that about 6,800 crime incidents or 41.6 percent of the total cases were not reported by the Western Visayas police office to the DIDM.

Under the PNP’s e-blotter system, reports of crime and incidents recorded by police stations are directly uploaded to the national database of the DIDM.

The system first introduced last year is intended to fast-track the transmission of crime reports from police stations to the police headquarters. This is also intended to set up a database accessible to all police units.

However, several police stations, especially in less developed municipalities, have logistical and technical limitations in regularly uploading to the database.

“Some police stations are dependent on the local government unit for their Internet connection. Many times, the connection is intermittent or weak and at times the database itself is bogged down,” according to a policeman in Western Visayas.

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., Western Visayas police director, said the inconsistencies with reports reaching the DIDM and those recorded in police stations were due to reports being sent to various offices.

Cruz explained that some crime incidents, like those involving women and children, were not sent to the DIDM database but to other police units.

He said he would go to Camp Crame to explain the “confusion” in the implementation of the new reporting mechanism.

Cruz added that he would appeal for reconsideration of the relief of the police officials.