CEBU CITY, Philippines—Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has picked a choice for an officer-in-charge for the city’s police department while Police Colonel Vinluan remains to be in administrative relief.
Read: De Leon places Vinluan on ‘floating status’
Labella’s choice is Cebuano policeman Colonel Arnel Banzon.
Banzon is the current Operation and Plans Division chief of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas.
He became Colonel on August 2016, allowing him to take command of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), a first class police unit.
Labella said he trusts Banzon because he is a Cebuano who knows and understands the city.
“I am positive that with his qualifications and experience, he will be of great service to the City of Cebu,” said Labella in a letter written to Police Brigadier General Valeriano de Leon, the chief of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas dated November 20, 2019.
Labella, as the chief executive of the city, has the privilege to recommend a chief for the city’s police.
The final say still remains to be with the Philippine National Police (PNP) National Headquarters.
In the case of Vinluan, she was temporarily suspended following the death of Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro on October 2019 being probed on by the National Bureau of Investigation.
De Leon is tasked to assign a temporary chief in her place.
There is still no directive on whether Vinluan can go back as police chief as of press time.
Should Vinluan’s relief become permanent, Labella will be given a chance to recommend three names to the PNP for city police chief. /bmjo