Mayor calls for relief of police chief

THE Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) will launch an investigation into Consolacion Mayor Teresita Alegado’s complaint that the town’s police chief has allowed illegal gambling.

Alejado had sought the relief of Chief Insp. Roderick Gonzales, head of Consolacion police, in a call to PRO-7 director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño.

Alegado claimed that Gonzales allowed illegal cockfighting to go on in a certain barangay.

“Paiimbestigahan natin ito (We will investigate this),” said Taliño on Alegado’s request for Gonzales’ relief.

The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) said Gonzales was among the “top performing” chiefs of police in the province.

According to CPPO community relations officer Supt. Jaime Quiocho, Gonzales has been consistent with arresting drug personalities in Consolacion.

Quiocho added that they will look into Alegado’s claims since there had been reports that some people were angry with Gonzales for arresting high-value targets including government employees who were into illegal drugs.

Quiocho said that CPPO will conduct a very balanced investigation on the issue so as not to demoralize police officers.

“We could see that Gonzales is performing very well. If we will relieve him, acting on the allegations of the mayor, maybe in the end, performing chiefs of police will lose their morale and will no longer work hard because this would be unfair to them,” Quiocho said in Tagalog.

Cebu Daily News tried to reach Mayor Alegado for her comments but failed.