TALIÑO
ALTHOUGH the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is among the top performers in the nationwide campaign against illegal drugs, its director wasn’t contented just yet.
“Nakukulangan pa rin ako. Kailangan pa natin mag-improve. Gusto ko pang dagdagan ang ating accomplishments (I’m not satisfied. We can still improve. I want to add more accomplishments),” said Chief Supt. Noli Taliño in an interview.
Taliño, the combat-tested former chief of the Special Actions Force, said he directed all city and provincial police directors in the region to do more in the campaign against illegal drugs.
The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Oversight Committee on Illegal Drugs, he said, is conducting a weekly assessment to determine nonperforming units and police stations.
Taliño said police station chiefs who won’t be able to arrest the top drug personalities in their respective areas shall be relieved from their posts and might be transferred to other regions.
Last July, 75 of the 126 police station chiefs in Central Visayas were relieved from their posts for failing to arrest half of the drug personalities in their watch list since February 2016.
“Based on our evaluation, we will see who are not performing well in our campaign against illegal drugs. If they still won’t do anything, they need to go in the coming days,” Taliño said.
He said he has given the city and provincial directors the authority to relieve their respective police station chiefs who fail to perform well in their anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Last February, Camp Crame ordered all police chiefs to submit the names of the top 10 drug personalities in their respective areas.
When Taliño assumed his post last July 4, he was surprised that many drug personalities listed in Central Visayas have remained free since several station chiefs had not done anything to arrest them.
He immediately order the relief of all police station chiefs who fail to arrest half of the target.
Chief Supt. Nestor Bergonia, head of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) National Operations Center, on Thursday said PRO-7 is among the top performing organizations in the nationwide campaign against illegal drugs.
Bergonia, however, didn’t give the specific rankings, saying they are still validating the authenticity of the reports submitted to them by the regional police offices.
According to recent figures released by PRO-7, the police have seized a total of 2,272 grams of shabu, with an estimated street value of P26.5 million, from July 1 to Aug. 22 alone.
Over the same period, police units in Central Visayas have conducted 751 anti-illegal drugs operations, which resulted to the arrest of 1,130 persons and the filing of 1,295 drug cases in court.