PHILIPPINE National Police chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil on Thursday ordered the administrative relief for 10 days of the director of the National Capital Region Police Office and the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group to give way to an impartial investigation of charges hurled against them and their men in the aftermath of the October 29 raid at the Century Peak Tower in Ermita, Manila.

Major Gen. Sidney S. Hernia and Maj. Gen. Ronnie Francis M. Cariaga were administratively relieved for 10-days from their current positions starting November 7 to give way to an investigation by a committee led by PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Lieutenant Gen. Michael John F. Dubria.

NCRPO deputy regional director for administration, Brigadier Gen. Reynaldo M. Tamondong was designated as Officer-in-Charge of the Metro Manila police force during the period while Col. Vina H. Guzman was named as OIC of the PNP-ACG, said PNP spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Jean S. Fajardo.

The PNP spokesperson said a team leader of the PNP-ACG and three of his men were also relieved from their posts and placed under restrictive custody pending an investigation into accusations they deliberately tinkered with the CCTV cameras at the raided facility.

“For the record, we are not happy with the tampering issue. They have no right to alter the focus of the CCTV. Walang karapatan ang sinuman pulis na i-alter ang mga ito and this is one of the reasons why me mga na-relieved kasama na ang team leader ng tatlo,” she said.

Apart from that, Brig. Gen. Fajardo said they are open for any investigation of charges that the raiders conducted an illegal raid, that some of the building tenants were harassed and were unable to do their regular business, and that there were some extortion attempts.

“These are some of the allegations to be probed by the committee,” she said.

She also defended the police force from accusations its men usually resort to stealing or tampering with evidence during raids. “This is not the norm, it will never be the norm of the police na magnakaw ng evidence, na magtamper ng evidence. These will not be tolerated definitely by the leadership,” she emphasized.

Brig. Gen. Fajardo said that the PNP leadership decided to relieve the two 2-star police generals to give way to the investigation of some issues raised in the aftermath of the service of the Warrant of Search, Seize and Examine Computer Data issued by a Manila court at officers of Vertex Technology.

“Let me reiterate that administrative relief is not a form of punishment. Binibigyang-linaw po namin na walang mal isa operation which was done on the premise of a

Cyber-warrant issued by a Manila court. But during the conduct of the operation, there were some issues raised particularly the alleged tampering of CCTV cameras,” she said.

Brig. Gen. Fajardo said it was not the 1st time that police commanders were relieved to face investigation.

However, she explained that Gen. Marbil wants to find out if some officials were remiss of their duties during the conduct of the search.

The PNP spokesperson said that in case Maj. Gen. Hernia and Maj. Gen. Cariaga would be found to have done their job and were not negligent during the operation, they may be returned to their former positions.

She also maintained that “the PNP will not succumb to any pressure’ amid speculations that ‘very influential people’ who were affected by the October 29 raid were behind the relief of the two ranking police officials.

“I will make it clear. They were relieved to give way to an impartial investigation. This is not a punishment and we are not saying that there were mistakes along the way,” she said.

“The PNP is standing by the position that legitimate ang operation na conducted but the reason why they were relieved is to give way to an impartial investigation. We will have to see if there is negligence in terms of supervision only, in terms of checking if operational procedures were violated during the operation,” she said.

Brig. Gen. Fajardo also said that the raiders have maintained that they only served the court order at the building’s 23rd floor but later went to the 32nd floor which is not the subject of the warrant after a Chinese national approached them to complain that her partner is being held against her will in the area.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon