DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 May) – The relief of 35 members of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), including its chief, “appears to be an abuse of power from higher authorities,” Mayor Sebastian Duterte said, as he asked for “immediate reinstatement of the unfairly relieved officers.”
The relief was recommended by the Regional Internal Affairs Service (RIAS)-Davao, following its investigation into the buy-bust operations where seven alleged drug pushers were killed within the week Mayor Sebastian Duterte waged his “war against drugs.”
Duterte declared his “war against drugs” on March 22, during the turnover ceremony where Bad-ang was welcomed as the new city police director.
Hours after the mayor’s pronouncement, the first blood was spilled at 12:56 a.m. on March 23, when an alleged drug pusher was killed in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Communal in Buhangin.
On March 23, two months and one day after Mayor Duterte’s declaration, Bad-ang and 34 others were relieved.
Col. Rolindo Soguilon, PRO-11 deputy regional director for operations, was designated DCPO officer-in-charge vice Bad-ang.
“The Davao City Police Office has consistently shown remarkable effectiveness in maintaining peace and order in our city,” the mayor said.
He said there was “substantial evidence supporting the assertion that the buy-bust operations were conducted within the bounds of the law” and that any insinuation of misconduct on their past “is unfounded and unjust.”
“I oppose any efforts to undermine the hard-earned trust between our community and law enforcement. These recent developments serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked authority,” the mayor said.
Major Catherine Dela Rey, spokesperson of the regional police, said decision to relieve the police officers was “not taken lightly, but with thorough deliberation and with profound consideration of all facts and surrounding circumstances of RIAS 11 investigation with the end view of ascertaining the truth.”
Last March 26, Bad-ang told reporters that the mayor had not given him a direct, standing order but during his assumption as the city director, he said Duterte’s earlier pronouncement of war on drugs “was already a standing order.”
DCPO spokesperson Captain Hazel Tuazon said Duterte’s war on drugs declaration “is nothing new,” as the city’s war on drugs started with his father, Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of Davao City for 22 years before he was elected President in 2016.
Tuazon said the DCPO has been conducting regular anti-drug operations, but apparently gained media attention only when the mayor used the word “war” in the campaign against drugs. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)