BAGUIO CITY—How exactly could a police official stop a landslide?
That’s a major issue in Benguet, after Senior Supt. David Lacdan, erstwhile Benguet police director, was sacked by Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento because of the high number of casualties during the onslaught of Typhoon “Lando” (international name: Koppu) this week and the lack of preparation in the province.
Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan said Lacdan did no wrong.
“Lando brought unprecedented rains. [The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration] said Lando poured in one night the volume of rain that would ordinarily have taken a month in the province. No matter who was in charge, he wouldn’t have predicted which mountain would erode. We cannot blame [these tragedies] on just one person,” Fongwan said on Thursday.
In sacking Lacdan, a Philippine Military Academy graduate and former Baguio police chief, Sarmiento said, “With Benguet’s terrain, the odds were high that there would be landslides. There were preparations but these were not enough).”
“The police’s job is to serve and protect,” Sarmiento told reporters in Aurora province on Wednesday. He said the huge number of fatalities in Benguet prompted him to seek the relief of Lacdan.
As of Thursday, Lando had killed 17 people, mostly from landslides. The latest fatalities were four landslide victims in Kapangan town and two others in Tuba town.
Lacdan was replaced by Senior Supt. David Peredo as Benguet police chief.
Chief Supt. Ulysses Abellera, Cordillera police director, said he followed the instructions from Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters. But in a text message to reporters, he said, “We believe that under the circumstances of the disaster that just struck, we did our best.”
Lacdan did not issue any statement and declined media interviews.
Fongwan said Lacdan informed him about his relief on Wednesday. “I was surprised that he got sacked,” the governor said, adding that the Benguet police led the rescue operations when Lando tore through the province.
“While most of the people were sleeping, Benguet officials and police officers were up doing the rounds, monitoring Lando, conducting rescue operations, clearing roadblocks. Police officers were quick to respond to calls for help,” he said.