Mayor urges PNP: Give nominees for police chief

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan urged the Philippine National Police to submit names of five nominees for the top police post in the city for the city to have a full-fledged police chief.

The mayor said he had composed the screening committee that will undertake the selection process and the group will convene as soon as the list was submitted.

“The committee will evaluate the merits of each of the applicants and the one who will top the selection will be recommended to the position,” the mayor said.

He said the City Justice Peace and Order Council earlier approved a resolution also asking the PNP to submit the names to start selection process.

The mayor said the last information they received was that the list has been submitted for signing by interior and local government (DILG) secretary Mar Roxas.

“That was three months and up to now, we have yet to receive the list,” the mayor said.

“I hope they can send the list soon so we can speed up the selection and our city will have its permanent police chief,” the mayor said.

The city’s present police head Sr. Supt. Rolando Miranda assumed as acting police chief on March 5 amid opposition by local officials who expressed displeasure over the unceremonious replacement of then police chief Jesus Cambay Jr.

Miranda has remained in his post despite the lapse of the 30-day tenure supposedly given to police heads in acting capacity due to the absence of a full-fledged police chief.

Miranda, who hails from Bulacan, is currently on vacation and in his absence, another officer-in-charge was appointed -- a situation which Domogan finds comical. 

“It’s a comic situation in the city which only underscores the need for the city to have a full-fledged police chief selected by the city itself,” he said.

The mayor has in the past criticized hasty replacements and appointments of new police chiefs stressing the need to involve the local government units in the selection process to ensure that the suitable ones are appointed.

At one point, a police chief’s origin and residence became an issue when the city police chief at that time kept a weekend homecoming schedule to be with his family in the lowlands, making him ineffective in his post. This prompted his predecessor, another lowlander, to relocate his family to the city, so he can fully serve even during weekends and holidays.