Makati police chief sacked for robberies ‘solved too late’

The chief of the Makati police has been relieved of his post for failure to immediately solve the recent spate of robberies in the city, according to the head of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

“First there is the case of this woman who was shot in the head in December, which remains unsolved,” said the NCRPO chief, Director Oscar Albayalde, citing one of the reasons for the removal of Senior Supt. Milo Pagtalunan.

“And then the series of robbery incidents in restaurants in January and in bus terminals in February,” Albayalde told the Inquirer on Thursday. “[The Makati police] said they had solved some of them, but it was already too late.”

As to the slain woman, the official was referring to Catalina Aguas, a shawarma shop cashier and mother of eight, who was killed by armed men who grabbed her bag in Barangay San Isidro on Dec. 1, 2016.

But Albayalde also pointed out that the robberies involving motorcycle-riding suspects who victimized shop customers and commuters were “just one of the reasons” why Pagtalunan was sacked.

The Makati police last week said they killed three alleged members of the Brondial robbery group—Jayson Brondial, Donald Bacsal and Ernesto Fajardo—after the suspects initiated a shootout. They have linked the group to least 20 robberies in the city since January.

Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario Jr., the Southern Police District director, said Pagtalunan was ordered on Monday by the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management to report to Camp Crame.

Pagtalunan, who was named Makati police chief in November last year, was replaced by Senior Supt. Dionisio Bartolome, PNPA Class ’95 alumnus and former personnel chief of the Calabarzon police. —DEXTER CABALZA