Incoming Police Regional Office head Chief Supt. Patrocinio Comendador (left) receives the PNP command sword from outgoing PRO-7 Chief Manuel Gaerlan. The turnover ceremony at Camp Sergio Osmeña was attended by PNP Director Dominador Aquino (center). (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Chief Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, who assumed yesterday as the top official of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7), said he sees his return to Cebu as a big challenge and a homecoming.
Comendador said during the turnover ceremony yesterday that he never imagined coming back to Cebu to fill the shoes of the regional director.
“Indeed it was a long way from Cebu and back,” said Comendador, who replaced Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan.
Comendador was assigned at the National Capital Region Police Office before he was transferred to his new post.
Gaerlan, who was acting PRO-7 chief since December, was transferred to PRO-11 in Davao Region.
Yesterday’s turnover ceremony was attended by PNP Director Dominador Aquino.
Comendador’s assumption as PRO-7 chief barely a month before the elections has drawn criticism from some local government officials specifically Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.
Rama said in an earlier interview that the transfer was politically motivated.
But Comendador said there was no politics involved in his transfer and he was only directed by Camp Crame to assume the post.
“The end result will tell us all. I have been serving in Cebu for a number of years. They know me, they know how I operate, I respect whatever their opinion,” said Comendador of the criticisms hurled at him.
Comendador was a former Cebu City Police Office chief and a former Cebu Provincial Police Office chief.
Yesterday, he also said that he will not introduce new programs but will properly implement and strengthen the programs of his predecessors.
“Crime is not easy task; you cannot promise to eradicate it. I will not be introducing (new) programs; there are a lot of programs advanced by PNP. What needed is execution,” said the Cebuano police official as he discussed his plans for the PRO-7.
He said he plans to sustain the programs of his predecessors especially against drug trafficking and gun proliferation and he only needs “police officers who have integrity and morals to refuse bribery.”
He said his marching order with the elections fast approaching is to have a “safe and fair” elections on May 9 this year.