PNP chief sacks head of ‘lazy’ cops in Rizal
Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III announced on Monday that he has relieved the police chief of “a city in Rizal” over what he described as the “lazy” handling of a theft case.
“Over the weekend, I relieved one chief of police in a city in Rizal because of the lazy handling [of a case] by their personnel,” he said at the flag-raising ceremony in Camp Crame. Antipolo is the only city in the province.
Torre said he received information that the city police sent home a businessman who had reported that two of his employees stole P600,000 from him, after telling him that authorities were preparing to file a case in court.
“That night, someone who knew me saw that. They texted me that report. I called the PD [provincial director]. ‘PD, this appears to be laziness on the part of our personnel. Are we settling for this? The police’s work is done just because we’ve already sent it for filing of cases?” he added.
In a press conference after the flag ceremony, Torre told reporters the employees had worked for the businessman “for so long” and that they had gone home to their province.
Interconnected police force
“They didn’t make an effort to call the police there? That’s why we are the national police. I even brag that we are interconnected,” the PNP chief said.
“And everyone knows that except my police officers? A chief of police, no less. You’re out. That’s not allowed,” he stressed.
According to Torre, after he coordinated with them, the police officers of a province in the Negros Island Region arrested the two suspects and recovered P500,000 of the stolen money.
Torre did not identify the police chief, the businessman involved or his two employees. He also did he disclose when the incident and arrest took place or in which province the suspects were apprehended.
The PNP chief, however, urged the public to report similar cases to him. “To our citizens, perhaps, you know of incidents like this where you are given lazy service by our police officers. Bring this to our attention and we will relieve the commander.”
According to him, lazy police officers “are never to be given again another commander’s position while I am chief PNP, unless we’ve exhausted everyone who is qualified to take their place.”
Mistaken identity
Torre also commented on the case of an 81-year-old man who was arrested and jailed by the police in 2024 after he was wrongfully identified as a New People’s Army (NPA) leader, saying he can seek compensation from the government.
On June 27, the 16th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) ordered the release of construction worker Prudencio Calubid Jr. from the Manila City Jail, citing an “evident lack of due diligence” on the part of those who arrested him.
“That’s the beauty of the law. That went through a trial … Unfortunately, there was a mistake,” Torre said.
“But that person can invoke compensation. We have a law that compensates people wrongfully convicted. We have that. They can invoke that and ask for compensation for what they went through,” he added. But he admitted that he has yet to review the court decision.
Republic Act No. 7309 created a Board of Claims under the Department of Justice for victims of unjust imprisonment or detention.
In granting the writ of habeas corpus filed by Calubid’s daughter, the CA’s 16th Division ruled that agents of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) mistook Calubid for an NPA leader with the same name, but without the “Jr.”
The construction worker was arrested in Olongapo City in December 2024 after he was believed to be the target who has a P7.8-million bounty on his head.
At the time of Calubid’s arrest, Torre was the PNP CIDG director.
