Internal cleansing of the ranks remain a priority for the Police Regional Office (PRO-7) as part of its efforts to curtail both the illegal drug trade and criminality in Central Visayas.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, PRO-7 chief, said PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde ordered all police chiefs to monitor police officers that were assigned in their respective units after being transferred from places like Mindanao.
Sinas pointed to a police officer who was arrested in an entrapment operation in Mandaue City after he demanded P10,000 from the smartphone owner.
SPO2 Vincente Dela Peña Gila Jr., assigned at the Consolacion police office, was arrested in a mall in Mandaue City, will undergo a drug test to verify whether he was a user.
Last Tuesday, a police officer went absent without leave (AWOL) after he tested positive for illegal drug use. Sinas said he gave the police officer five days to turn himself in lest he be dismissed from service.
He called on the public to report to the PRO-7 any cases of abuses committed by police in the region./Jaive Ria Z. Agbon- STC Intern