Comelec OK sought for cops’ relief at election time

Chief Superintendent Marcelo Garbo Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Three Metro Manila police chiefs recently ordered relieved of their posts may get to stay on a little longer, as the National Capital Region Police Office has yet to obtain clearance for the action from the Commission on Elections.

The police chiefs of Pasay, Taguig, and Mandaluyong cities were ordered relieved last October 8 by the Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame, pending an investigation of their respective stations’ alleged underreporting of crime statistics for the first half of the year.

On Saturday, NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Marcelo Garbo said that although he received the relief orders from higher headquarters, the orders could not be implemented because he was still “waiting for the concurrence of Comelec.”

Comelec Resolution No. 9733 issued last July said no changes in the assignments of police personnel should be made during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections period from September 28 to November 12.

“I would also need to inform the mayors [in their areas] first, out of respect,” Garbo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview.

Garbo, however, said officers-in-charge were ready to take the place of the relieved police chiefs who will be temporarily posted at the regional personnel holding and accounting unit.

“We are also considering that since it is Camp Crame investigating them, they may also be transferred there,” Garbo said, of the sacked police chiefs.

Chief Superintendent Jose Erwin Villacorte, Southern Police District director, said that until his office receives a formal implementing directive, Taguig police chief Senior Supt. Arthus Asis and Pasay police chief Senior Supt. Rodolfo Llorca would remain in their posts.
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