PRO-7 welcomes new chief of CIDG-7

Police Colonel Lito Patay, the head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas said that their raid of a Chinese company in Lapu-lapu City on September 5 was legal. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, director of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) on Friday, September 20,  welcomed Police Colonel Rommel Ochave as the new chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7).

Ochave took office on Wednesday, September 18, as the new CIDG-7 chief, replacing  Police Colonel Lito Patay, who received his relief order September 13 but officially stepped down on the same day that Ochave took over.

Patay was transferred to Region I or Ilocos region, which was the area Ochave was last deployed.

“We’ll just give him the highlights of how PRO-7 works,” said Sinas of his meeting on Friday with Ochave

According to Sinas, he had already met with Ochave last Wednesday, September 18 and was able to discuss how things will work out with the sudden change of leadership in CIDG-7.

Ochave belonged to the Philippine National Police Academy class 1996, which, according to Sinas, is the class with the most number of personnel assigned in Cebu.

Sinas said he was confident they could work well with Ochave.

Although saddened by the sudden relief of Patay as they have worked on several operations before, Sinas said he could not do anything about it as the CIDG is not under his jurisdiction.

“They have different rules,” he said.

Sinas opined that the sudden relief of Patay might be related to the case of the Chinese- owned company Xin Huang Jin Cheng that was raided by CIDG-7 last September 7 in Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

The operation became controversial after the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the case against Xin Huang Jin Cheng and its over 200 Chinese workers, saying there was no probable cause to charged the company for alleged illegal offshore online gambling operation since the company was able to present a certificate issued by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) that it operates as a “Costumer Relations Service Provider.”

“Siguro naa pa uban nga incident pero most likely mao nay cause,” said Sinas.

(Maybe there were other reasons but that was most likely the cause.)/elb