BACOLOD CITY – Three police chiefs in areas with insurgency-related incidents in Negros Occidental were relieved from their posts effective Tuesday, May 21.
POLICE Col. Rainerio de Chavez, Negros Occidental police director, presides over the turnover of command between incoming Police Major Rhojn Darell Nigos (left) and outgoing Police Major Sherwin Fernandez (right) in La Castellana, Negros Occidental on Tuesday, May 21. (Photo courtesy of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office)
Police Col. Rainerio de Chavez, Negros Occidental police director, issued the relief order, Police Capt. Judesses Catalogo, spokesperson of the Negros Occidental police, said.
Catalogo said that this reshuffle was aligned with the career development of the three station commanders and had nothing to do with the recent incidents in their areas.
Police Major Ronald Santillan, Calatrava police chief, swapped posts with Police Major Wilfredo Benoman Jr., deputy chief of the Talisay City Police Station.
Catalogo said that Santillan had already completed his two-year stint in the town.
Police Major Rhojn Darell Nigos, deputy chief of the Provincial Operations and Management Unit, assumed the post of Police Major Sherwin Fernandez, who was reassigned as deputy chief of the 2nd Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force Company (Nocpmfc) based in Hinigaran town.
Catalogo said that this is Nigos’ comeback in the town as he served as police chief last year.
He said that it would be an advantage for the provincial police force to get preferable results especially on insurgency-related incidents since Nigos is familiar with the terrain of the town.
Catalogo said that Police Capt. Armel Lasap relinquished his post to Police Major Jerald Muya, deputy chief of the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU), while Lasap remains at the police station as Muya’s deputy chief.
The New People’s Army (NPA) has owned up to the killings of two persons in La Castellana town and one each in Calatrava town and Moises Padilla town since April.
A barangay councilor was killed in La Castellana on May 1 but the NPA denied involvement in the incident.
Catalogo said that a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) has been activated to thoroughly probe the incident.
Calatrava Mayor Marilyn Era, in a statement, condemned the killings perpetrated by the NPA in the town, as she appealed for them to surrender to the government.
"I personally condemn the killing incidents that happened in my municipality without a valid reason of killing people, that is why I am pleading to my brothers on the other side to please come and join us, as the government is ready to help you,” Era said as head of the Municipal Local Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
Lt. Col. Arnel Calaoagan, commander of the Army 79th Infantry Battalion (IB), said that they are in one with the mayor on her plea for the NPA to surrender or face the full might of their capability to serve the people and secure the land.