LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The leadership of the Benguet Provincial Police Office defended the unceremonious relief of the chief of the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station (LTMPS) while Mayor Romeo K. Salda was on official business outside the country.
Benguet Provincial Director Police Col. Lyndon Mencio claimed the relief of former LTMPS chief Police Maj. Benson Macliing with Police Maj. Joeffer Banglayan was issued by former Police Regional Office–Cordillera (PRO-COR) regional director retired Police Brig. Gen. Rolando Z. Nana while the recent relief of Banglayan by Police Maj. Roland Cabatan was upon orders of incumbent PRO-COR regional director Police Brig. Gen. Israel Efraim Dickson.
He claimed that in both instances, the orders came from the regional office which were simply coursed through him to implement, thus, he had no direct involvement in the replacement of the LTMPS chief twice in a row while Mayor Salda was on official travel abroad.
Macliing was replaced by Banglayan in December last year when Mayor Salda was on official travel in Israel while Banglayan was replaced by Cabatan on July 5, 2019 when the mayor was again on official travel in Japan attending to engagements of the local government for the aggressive programs for the development of the province’s agriculture sector.
The police official explained the recent changing of the guards in the LTMPS was due to the alleged increase in theft and robbery cases in the capital town as per the assessment of the regional office and that for the past two weeks that the new chief of police was in place, there was already a significant reduction in the theft and robbery cases being monitored.
On the issue on why the relief of the LTMPS chief were done when the local chief executive was on official business abroad, Mencio said that the said instances were simply coincidences and that there are no strings attached for the said relief of the cop chief in the capital town.
According to him, previously, the local police force concentrated their efforts in maintaining peaceful and orderly elections but now, their efforts are now concentrated on the aggressive anti-criminality efforts to help sustain law and order in their areas of jurisdiction pursuant to the marching orders of higher authorities, thus, performance of police officials are now based on their efforts to curb criminality in their areas of jurisdiction.
Earlier, Mayor Salda expressed his surprise why was Banglayan relieved from his position as LTMPS when he was on official travel abroad which was the second time in a row to be done while he is the town’s local chief executive.
Mencio urged local officials to understand that the relief of chiefs of police assigned in their areas of jurisdiction is based on their performance in curbing crimes to allow law and order to prevail and thus attract potential investors leading to growth and development.
Salda is hoping that the same unceremonious relief of the LTMPS chief of police while he is on official travel abroad will not be repeated for the third time because it will really cast doubt on the minds of the people the real purpose behind the relief of assigned police officers in the municipality.
By HENT