Baste Duterte slams Davao City Police mass relief

Mayor Baste Duterte criticized the mass relief of officials in Davao City Police Office, saying that the move “will not help in sustaining the city’s peace and security situation.”

Duterte said Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Rommel Marbil and Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 director Police Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III undermined the hard work of the cops.

“This move by [Marbil] and [Torre] undermines the hard work not only of these police officials but also of every police personnel who is truthfully fulfilling their mandate, that instead of being recognized, are being relieved and questioned,” Baste said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The mass relief of police officials, including the City Police Director, the head of the Special Operations Group, and 19 station commanders, assigned in Davao City will not help in sustaining the city’s peace and security situation,” he added.

GMA News Online sought comment from Marbil and Torre about the matter but they have yet to provide a statement as of posting time.

Ineffective?

Duterte, meanwhile, also questioned Torre’s assessment on the peace and order situation in the city considering that he is just a new director of PRO 11.

“Torre’s perception and conclusion on the peace and order situation of Davao City a few days after he set foot in the city is rather fascinating given that he has only been assigned in PRO XI in less than a month,” he said.

“If General Torre thought that Davao City police personnel were ineffective in their duties, then how come the very institution he leads has consistently recognized the Davao City Police Office as the top performing police office in the region?” he added.

Recently, 19 police station commanders of Davao City Police Office were relieved from their posts.

GMA Regional TV One Mindanao's Kent Abrigana reported that the station commanders were relieved effective Monday, July 8.

They were reassigned to various offices of the PRO 10 based in Cagayan de Oro City.

According to the report, the move was unrelated to the serving of arrest warrants on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy on June 10, 2024,

Also, the leadership in the city police was replaced three times on Wednesday. --VAL, GMA Integrated News