Beware of the ‘disciplinarian’ Albayalde

GEAR up.

This was the advice of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) to all policemen as incoming Philippine National Police chief, Director Oscar Albayalde, is set to assume his post on April 21.

Supt. Reyman Tolentin, spokesperson of PRO-7, said Albayalde is known for being a disciplinarian.

“We will be preparing for that. We are expecting tight policies under the new PNP chief,” he said in an interview on Monday.

Albayalde, the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), was chosen by President Rodrigo Duterte to replace PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who was supposed to retire last January 21 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56.

Tolentin cautioned policemen who are used to sleeping while on duty to stop their bad habit or they will face the consequences of their actions under Albayalde’s watch.

“He (Albayalde) has the habit of roaming around to know if policemen are really working. So expect our policemen to be really awake during their tour of duty even at night,” he said.

Tolentin said they also expect Albayalde to continue the government’s relentless war on illegal drugs as well as the internal cleansing in the PNP.

In Central Visayas, at least 47 policemen were investigated for different accusations in 2017.

This year, Tolentin said PRO-7 has been investigating 12 policemen for allegeged grave neglect of duty, grave misconduct, and conduct unbecoming of police officers.

He said he has yet to determine the outcome of the investigations.