ROMANA SACKED

relieved. Senior Supt. Noli Romana has been ordered to report to Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

City Mayor Michael Rama has just lost his chief of police.

The Philippine National Police ordered the relief of Senior Supt. Noli Romana as chief of the Cebu City Police Office.

In a special order, Romana was among the seven senior police officers – all with the rank of Senior Superintendent or equivalent to full colonel in the military — who were given new assignments “by command of police Director General Purisima”.

The order was stamped with the name of Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo Jr., chief of the PNP Directorial Staff, and signed by Director Jaime Morente, director for Personnel and Records Management. The order was dated Dec. 4 or the day when the Office of the Ombudsman announced the six-month preventive suspension of PNP Director-General Alan Purisima for grave misconduct and serious dishonesty.

Romana’s relief was reportedly announced in Cebu by Senior Supt. Edward Carranza, chief of staff of the Police Regional Office 7, during a command conference Thursday afternoon.

It was not clear if Romana was in the conference, but he was not picking up calls and not replying to text messages since Thursday. He also did not show up in his office at Camp Cabahug yesterday. Chief Supt. Prudencio Bañas, the regional police chief, refused to make a comment on the development, saying he has not received a copy of the order.

Rama, who after succeeding in his reelection bid in 2013 shouted himself hoarse to “give me my chief of police” as he intensely lobbied for Romana’s transfer to Cebu City, said the Camp Crame order was “confusing”.

“Purisima was suspended. Naglibog ko, atong tan-awn na (I’m confused, we will look into that). As far as I’m concerned (Romana is still CCPO chief) until I receive a copy of the order,” he told reporters yesterday.

The mayor said he has already spoken to Romana and told him that they will be dealing with the relief order after typhoon Ruby.

Romana’s unceremonious exit however, should not be viewed negatively, his deputy and likely successor at the CCPO, said.

“From what I heard, he will be made Deputy Director for Operations of the Civil Security Group. It’s like a promotion. It’s comparatively his highest position in his career,” Supt. Alet Virtucio, deputy director for administration of the CCPO, said.

Review

Virtucio, who replaced Romana at Negros Oriental before moving to Cebu City, explained that reassignments are routine in the uniformed service and are usually carried out after undergoing a thorough review by the Senior Officers Placement and Promotions Board. Virtucio said reassigned officers like Romana has around one week to clear up their accountabilities before they report to their new posts.

As a procedure, Virtucio said the PRO-7 will be assigning an officer-in-charge before a new city police director is named. In accordance with the provisions of Republic Act 6975 or the Department of Interior and Local Government Act of 1990, city and municipal mayors are given the “authority to choose the chief of police from a list of five eligibles recommended by the provincial police director, preferably from the same province, city or municipality”.

Romana hogged Cebu’s headlines in early 2013 when then PRO-7 chief, Marcelo Garbo, blocked moves to have him take over the CCPO seat then being held by Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el even after he was handpicked by Rama from the list provided by the PNP.

Romana, then the provincial police director of Negros Oriental, was reportedly recommended by Senior Supt Melvin Buenafe who was transferred to Camp Crame after serving out his maximum allowable tour of duty at CCPO in December 2012./With a report from correspondent Melissa Q. Cabahug