Hernia not out as NCRPO chief – Marbil
THE Philippine National Police leadership on Tuesday denied rumors that National Capital Region Police Office director, Major General Sidney S. Hernia has been officially fired from his post.
“No less than Chief PNP, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil denied said reports. There’s no truth to that, hindi po totoo na tinanggal na si Maj. Gen. Hernia as RD,” said PNP spokesperson, Brigadier Gen. Jean S. Fajardo.
She explained that Hernia and PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group director, Maj. Gen. Ronnie Francis M. Cariaga were merely issued a 10-day administrative relief order by the PNP national headquarters to give way for an impartial investigation of charges raised against them and their men in the aftermath of the October 29 raid at the Century Peak building in Ermita, Manila.
She added that the chairman of the special investigating committee created by Gen. Marbil, PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Lieutenant Gen. Michael John F. Dubria has also told her that the probe is still ongoing although they already have their initial findings.
“Ang sabi ng ating Chief PNP eh hindi po totoo na tinanggal na siya (Hernia) completely as RD of NCRPO,” Brig. Gen. Fajardo said referring to her talks with the top cop prior to the start of their command conference at Camp Crame.
On Monday, the PNP showed more than P305 million in cash seized by agents of the PNP-ACG in two separate anti-POGO raids in the country to prove they are intact, all safely secured in a police evidence room.
Fajardo presented to newsmen at Camp Crame a video of the police evidence room where the recovered POGO money is being kept as part of their evidence against the operators of the raided ‘scam farms.’
The video showed a room full of P1,000 bills neatly wrapped in plastic with two uniformed policemen holding the November 6 issues of People’s Journal and People’s Tonight to prove that the video was taken on the same day.
Brig. Gen. Fajardo said that on orders of Gen. Marbil, they released the video in answer to a series of disinformation aimed at putting some ‘cloud of doubts’ on previous police raids on POGO facilities-turned ‘scam farms’ in the country.
The evidence money is worth a total of P305,008,821 with P107, 824,360 recovered from a raided Sun Valley Hub Corporation in ClarkFreeport Zone in Pampanga on May 4, 2023 and P117, 184,461 confiscated during a raid in Hong Tai in Las Piñas City on June 27, 2023.
Hernia led those two successful anti-POGO raids in coordination with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.
As PNP-ACG director, Maj. Gen. Hernia said they conducted operations which led to the rescue of 1,700 Filipinos and 2,323 foreign nationals who have become victims of trafficking by POGO syndicates.
“Hindi po totoo na nawawala ang pera. We deem it necessary to show to the public na lahat ng (money) evidence are properly secured and intact and the PNP is more than willing to turn them over to the Department of Justice once ordered by the court. The PNP will comply but really, there are efforts to muddle the issue, na bigyan ng kulay yung operation sa Vertex,” she said in referring to the joint NCRPO-ACG raid at the Century Peak building in Ermita, Manila last October 29.
