Bulacan has new police director
THE Bulacan Police Provincial Office has a new director in the person of Colonel Manuel M. Lukban Jr., a former Makati City police chief from Philippine National Police Academy Class 1990, the Journal Group learned yesterday.
Lukban replaces Col. Lawrence B. Cajipe, a product of PNPA Class 1996 who effectively commanded the Bulacan police’s campaign against criminality, terror and corruption since February 6, 2020.
The 46-year old Cajipe has been given a promotion by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar as he was designated as the new Regional Chief Directorial Staff of the Police Regional Office 3 in Central Luzon headed by Brigadier General Valeriano T. de Leon.
The erstwhile PRO3 RCDS, Col. Jonas T. Amparo was designated as the new PRO3 Deputy Regional Director for Operations.
Prior to his designation as new Bulacan police director, Lukban, who will be retiring on July 5 next year, was the chief of the Plans and Program Division of the PNP Directorate for Police-Community Relations.
He had carved a name as a Makati City police chief and later as Regional Chief Directorial Staff of the Police Regional Office 12 where his career hit a snag after being investigated in connection with a multi-billion investment scam.
In October 2020, the General Santos Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the syndicated estafa charges filed against Lukban and 12 other officers and men of the PRO12 in the aftermath of an investigation into a nearly P2-billion investment scam which rocked the police force.
The complaints were junked due to lack of ‘probable cause and insufficient evidence’ even as the lawyer of the accused said that the officers were merely the ‘fall guys’ of the investment scam which reportedly victimized hundreds of policemen and civilians in Region 12.
The scam victims were reportedly lured into investing their money for an ‘out-of-this world’ interests of up to 120 percent a month.
With only seven months to go before his retirement from the police force, Lukban had repeatedly maintained that he was just ‘wrongfully accused’ of involvement in the scam which prompted the PNP leadership to place him in a floating status for months, the ordeal causing so much pain for him and his family, he said.
