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Displaced Abra cops rant, rave against order

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet (April 16) — On Friday last week, the initial convoy of officers and non-officers from the Regional Police Mobile Group, Baguio City Police Office and Benguet Police Provincial Office headed for their new assignment in Abra province while Abra policemen reached Camp Dangwa here Friday afternoon.

Forty-nine policemen from the Benguet police office replaced those from the Abra police office provincial headquarters; the 53 from Baguio City police office replaced those of the Bangued town police station; and the 90 from the Regional police mobile group replaced those of the two Provincial mobile groups in Abra, the 1601st and 1602nd.

The revamp has four phases and is expected to have been complete by Friday next week, April 22. The 2nd , 3rd and 4th phases involve the swapping of uniformed personnel from the other police stations of Abra to the selected personnel from the other PPOs of the Region, said Supt. Joseph Adnol, Cordillera police public information officer.

On Saturday morning, 46 policemen from Abra reported for duty at the Baguio City police office apparently with heavy hearts.

“Displacement”

SPO1 Alfredo Rendon, a cop for 18 years and one among the first batch of Abra policemen to be “shipped” to Baguio City said if he had to decide, he would not want his new assignment. He claimed their relief from Abra is physical and economic displacement.

Rendon, who has two children back home in Brgy. Lipcan, Bangued town said he could barely stretch his salary to eke out a living for his family now. He is currently paying a loan of P230,000 he claimed. And he now only gets P3,300 every fifteen days.

Most of the first batch of Abra policemen to be integrated into the Baguio City Police Office have no relatives to stay with in the Pines City. On Saturday morning as they broke out from their ranks from their duty report, most went around the city to look for boarding houses.

SPO1 Rendon said he could not imagine how to budget his meager P3,300 now for his family back home and his expenses here.

Another Abra policeman who requested not to be identified said he still considers their relief as “punishment”.

“It should be the politicians, not us who should be replaced,” he ranted in Iloko.

Reporting on Saturday morning, most if not all 46 Abra policemen displayed blank stares as they continued clicking on their cellular phones, sending text messages to their families and loved ones.

One policeman could only say, “we could not do anything, we should comply first before complain”.

Also howling on Reyes’ order is Mayor Antonio Domes-ag, former Abra board member, who is now mayor of Peñarubia.

Domes-ag slammed Reyes who might have been “thinking loud” when he ordered the relief of all the policemen in Abra.

Domes-ag said policemen in his town are demoralized with Reyes’ order because of the displacements of their families. Mayors, he claimed, are poised to oppose it. “Please help us tell the truth about Abra,” he appealed to journalists.

Cordillera Police Director Chief Supt. Noe A. Wong however warned policemen not to lobby their retention via political intervention because such act is a violation of the PNP rules and regulations.

Wong instead appealed to the local chief executives and other government officials to support his decision and PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao’s instructions and encourage their policemen to serve in other posts.

The Cordillera police leadership insists the deployment of Benguet and Baguio policemen to “change the guards” in violence-stricken Abra province is “not a punishment but rather a noble task”. # Artemio A. Dumlao for NORDIS

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