OSMEÑA
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is getting what he wants.
After declaring that he wanted to get back his supervisory powers over the local police, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) said it will restore his deputation as their representative.
“We are almost done now with the restoration of the deputation powers of Mayor Osmeña after things have been discussed. Nagkaintindihan na. (We finally understand each other),” said Napolcom Vice Chairman and Executive Officer Rogelio Casurao, in an interview with Bombo Radyo Cebu yesterday.
Casurao was in Cebu City yesterday to meet with Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).
“I’d like to believe that the deputation powers of Mayor Osmeña has been restored or is about to be restored. It’s just an acadmic issue. We are all public servants. There’s nothing like talking it out,” he said.
Osmeña’s deputation as Napolcom’s representative over the police was stripped from him last August 10 while the mayor was in the United States for a medical checkup.
The mayor said he intended to file a Motion for Reconsideration, but he never did.
30 mayors
As Osmeña’s authority over the local police is about to be restored, Casurao said Napolcom also prepares to cancel the deputation powers of about 30 incumbent mayors who were named drug coddlers by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Yesterday (Friday), we were ready to issue 30 revocation orders for mayors who were named by the president as having been somehow involved in the drug industry,” he said.
“They don’t have the authority to man the police because they are tainted with accusations. They have no moral ascendency to order or supervise the police because they have lost the trust and confidence of the President,” he said.
Napolcom earlier stripped former General and now Daanbantayan town Mayor Vicente Loot of his authority over the local police after he was publicly identified a drug protector by President Duterte.
Osmeña, on the other hand, was denied his supervisory powers over the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) after he publicly announced that he would no longer support the local police.
Last July, Osmeña withdrew support to the CCPO and the newly appointed police officers, and washed his hands off the 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.
The mayor also abandoned the cash reward system for each dead crime suspect and announced that he would stop giving allowances to new policemen who would be assigned to the city.