ILOILO CITY—Several town mayors in Western Visayas have raised concern over the sweeping reshuffle of police chiefs in the region for their failure to meet the quota on arrests of drug suspects.
“It’s arbitrary and disrupts the established working relations of the police chief with the local government,” a mayor told the Inquirer.
“We have to start again with a new police chief,” he said.
The mayor asked not to be identified for fear of being branded as uncooperative in the war on drugs by the Duterte administration.
The mayor also pointed out that the Philippine National Police has deprived local chief executives of their role in the selection of the chief of police in their towns as was the previous practice.
“Previously, we were given a list of three options from which we could appoint the chief of police. Now [the choice] comes only from the PNP,” the mayor said.
The official said this sentiment was shared by other mayors.
The PNP in Western Visayas last week started implementing a major reshuffle of police chiefs in the region, which covered 62 of 100 towns and cities.
These included 14 of 17 police chiefs in Aklan province, 13 of 18 in Antique province, 10 of 17 in Capiz province, three of five in Guimaras province and 22 of 43 in Iloilo province.
The police chiefs were transferred to other towns or cities after the stations they headed failed to meet the target of three arrests of drug suspects per day between July 1 and Aug. 31.
The reshuffle was intended to “reinvigorate” the anti-illegal drug campaign, Supt. Gilbert Gorero, Western Visayas police spokesperson, said in an earlier interview.
He said the minimum target was “realizable.”
“We are appealing to the (mayors) to bear with us,” he said. “The transfer is not a punishment,” he added.
Earlier, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Philippine National Police chief, pointed to the Western Visayas police as among the regional police offices that had been lagging in the government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs.