Additional vehicles, firearms for police

The national government has delivered on its promise to give additional support to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) more than a month after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with CCPO.

Yesterday, CCPO received five new police vehicles and several firearms from the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame.

In an interview, Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that there will be more vehicles and firearms that will be given to the Cebu City police in the coming days.

For starters, five Mahindra Scorpio units and 10 armalites were turned over to Senior Supt. Joel Doria, CCPO director, at the PRO-7 headquarters.

“I’m not sure if what just arrived were part of what President (Rodrigo) Duterte promised. What I’m sure of is these are all for the CCPO,” Taliño said.

Last month, Presidential Assistant for Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino announced that President Rodrigo Duterte will give 15 patrol vehicles, several firearms and additional incentives to Cebu City policemen after learning that Osmeña was withdrawing his support to the local police.

Dino said the President had been monitoring the plight of policemen in Cebu City and was aware of Osmeña’s actuations that put the local police in jeopardy.

With or without the mayor’s support, Taliño said the police will continue their mandate to serve and protect the people.

For his part, Senior Supt. Doria was overwhelmed with the support given by the national government and Camp Crame. The five new patrol vehicles, Doria said, will be given to police stations in Parian, Fuente, Waterfront, Mabolo, and Carbon. CCPO, last month, also received three units of Mahindra Scorpio which were part of the vehicles given by Camp Crame to Central Visayas.

Last month, Osmeña threatened to withdraw support to the CCPO and the newly appointed police officers, and washed his hands off PNP’s fight against illegal drugs and criminality after Camp Crame relieved former Police Regional Office-7 director Patrocinio Comendador and CCPO director Benjamin Santos from their posts. Soon after, the mayor also decided to recall all the city-owned firearms issued to the CCPO, and stopped the release of 15 new police cars set to be delivered to the CCPO.

As a result, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) took away the mayor’s authority over the local police. Three cops assigned to Osmeña as security escorts were also recalled.