Wilben Mayor: PNP reorganization not related to Maguindanao clash

Ex-PNP spokesman Wilben Mayor. INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines–With the sudden movement in the ranks at the Philippine National Police, its relieved spokesperson defended the reorganization, saying it was a “regular process” in the PNP and not related to the fatal police operation in Maguindanao.

Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor was pulled out of his post as the PNP spokesperson and Public Information Office chief as he switches posts with Intelligence officer Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr..

Mayor will be the deputy officer-in-charge of the Directorate for Intelligence as Cerbo leaves his former post and takes over as the PNP’s spokesman.

In a designation order by PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, the assignments are immediately in effect starting Wednesday.

But in an ambush interview, Cerbo said they were only informed of their new designations on Tuesday night.

The movement came amid the controversy hounding the PNP after 44 of its men were killed in a police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that led into a brutal carnage on January 25.

“This is part of our organization, kami naman kahit saan we do our work. Kung saan kami ilalagay, aayusin namin ang trabaho namin (We will do our work wherever we are. Wherever we are designated, we will do right by our jobs),” Mayor said Wednesday in an ambush interview.

“I think this was because of our expertise and qualification. I was formerly the chief of Intelligence operations, Cerbo was formerly the PIO chief,” he added.

Talk was rife that the deadly operation was kept under wraps by President Benigno Aquino III and suspended PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Espina admitted they were not informed of the covert operation thus creating a board of inquiry to investigate the incident.

Asked if the movement was related to the incident, Mayor said: “This is not related to the incident. We could have movements at any time of the day.”

Before his assignment at DI, Cerbo was deputy regional director at Police Regional Office 7 Central Visayas and PNP PIO chief in 2012.

Mayor was named PNP spokesperson in September 2014, replacing Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, now Logistics Support Service chief.

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