Director Oscar Albayalde catches police officers of Pasay City PCP 8 sleeping on duty during a surprise inspection on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. (Photo from a video by MATTHEW REYSIO-CRUZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde has relieved on Friday three city police chiefs after he found their men sleeping and drinking during their night shifts in a surprise inspection.
Albayalde’s decision caused a shakeup in Metro Manila’s police hierarchy, with outgoing Pasay police chief Senior Supt. Dionisio Bartolome to take the helm of Muntinlupa police.
Bartolome will replace Senior Supt. Dante Novicio, while Senior Supt. Noel Flores takes the Pasay police chief post.
According to NCRPO spokesperson Kim Molitas, San Juan City police chief, Senior Supt. Lawrence Coop, was also relieved “for failing to hit performance metrics.” Former Caloocan police chief Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna will take Coop’s post.
Albayalde said command responsibility should also be applied to police chiefs whose men were found to be neglecting their duties.
Early on Wednesday, a furious Albayalde found 18 policemen, including their police precinct commanders, drinking booze and snoozing in separate surprise inspections in southern metro.
He ordered the immediate suspension of Muntinlupa PCP-4 (Sucat) Senior Insp. Mark Oyad, who was drinking brandy and beer in the pantry with his men; and Pasay PCP-8 (Maricaban) chief Senior Insp. Ferdinand Duren, who was caught sleeping deeply while on duty.
In a text message, Novicio said he would follow his relief order, but expressed he “be given another chance” to prove himself.
“I always do inspection rounds in Sucat PCP. But I cannot watch over it all the time… Our stay or relief from the position is the discretion of the organization,” he said.
Meanwhile, Coop denied the allegation that San Juan police was underperforming.
“We will not be able to outperform other bigger cities. San Juan is a peaceful city. Perhaps its performance should be compared to other smaller cities,” Coop said.
“San Juan’s average crime volume weekly is two every week, usually theft and robbery or physical injury,” he added. /jpv
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