75 police chiefs face relief for failing to nab drug lords

About 75 of 126 police precinct chiefs in Central Visayas face relief for failing to arrest half of the drug personalities in their watch list since February 2016.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy director for operations of the Police Regional Office (PRO-7), recommended that the concerned police chiefs be reshuffled instead of imposing stiffer penalties on them.

“This should serve as an eye-opener for them to do their jobs well, not just sit down and do nothing,” he told reporters yesterday.

Lawas’s recommendations have yet to be approved by Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, PRO-7 director.

Last February, the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame ordered all police chiefs to submit the names of the top 10 drug personalities in their respective areas.

When Taliño assumed his post last July 4, he learned that many drug dealers have remained free since several precinct chiefs have not done anything to arrest them.

Lawas, the head of the Oversight Committee on Illegal Drugs, was surprised to discover that 60 percent of all precinct chiefs in the region failed to deliver on what is expected of them.

Thirty-nine of these non-performing police precincts are spread across Cebu province, 18 others in Bohol, eight in Cebu City, five in Mandaue City, three in Lapu-Lapu City, and two in Siquijor.

Lawas said they gave the station chiefs the chance to explain their failure to arrest the top drug personalities in the area.

He was told that several drug personalities have fled to other locations but didn’t present any proof.

He reminded all policemen regarding President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to stop the spread of illegal drugs in the country in three to six months.

“The focus now is on illegal drugs because this is of more pressing concern. There’s no time for us policemen to relax,” Lawas said.

He said all police precinct chiefs will be evaluated every six weeks to determine whether or not they are doing their jobs.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa recently ordered the transfer of at least 28 operatives mostly from two special police units in Central Visayas to the rebel-infested areas in Luzon or in war-torn areas in Mindanao.

Dela Rosa’s order affected operatives of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (RAIDSOTF), the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG), the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).