PNP CHIEF Gen. Nicolas Torre III yesterday said he has relieved “one chief of police in a city in Rizal” for command responsibility.
Antipolo is Rizal province’s lone city. The city’s police chief at the time of the incident was Lt. Col. Mark Henry Garcia.
At flag ceremonies in Camp Crame, Torre said he issued the relief order of over the weekend “dahil sa diskarteng tamad ng kanyang mga tauhan (because of the lazy handling by his men)” of a robbery complaint filed by a businessman.
Torre said the businessman found out that two of his employees stole P600,000 in cash, and reported it to the police. The Antipolo police, he said, merely recorded the incident in the station’s blotter then told the businessman to go home.
“What I saw in the disposition in the blotter extract is ‘documentation is now being prepared for filing of the appropriate case in court,’” he said.
Torre said he learned about the policemen’s action from an acquaintance who knows the businessman. He said he then called the Rizal provincial police director to call his attention. The director took cognizance of the incident and coordinated with his counterpart in “Negros” where the suspects are from.
Policemen swooped down on the suspects’ residence, leading to their arrest. Seized from the suspects were P500,000 in cash.
“P100,000 was missing. But it’s better than nothing, we recovered (P500,000). But too late for the chief of police in Rizal. I ordered his relief because of that lazy handling of the case by his men,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
In a press briefing later, Torre said the policemen “did not exert effort” to go after the suspects.”
“No one called the other side (in Negros) … our kababayan do not deserve that kind of service,” he added.
Meanwhile, Torre said he is mulling declaring three key positions in the Bicol region as vacant for the failure of their commanders to comply with his program that requires a five-minute response to emergencies.
“We were in Bicol yesterday… We’re assessing their (commanders) performances,” he said
He said one of the commanders does not know how to command his men through radio.
“I am always emphasizing to our commanders on the ground especially RDs (regional directors), PDs (provincial directors) and COPs (chiefs of police) and city directors that the best way for you to prove that you are really the commander is to give the command not only figuratively but also literally,” said Torre.
