DAVAO CITY, Philippines – It was a perplexing Wednesday as the Davao City Police Office saw a rigodon of three leadership changes in one day.
Colonel Lito Patay, the designated officer-in-charge (OIC) of DCPO, had just held a command conference with the newly installed station commanders on that Wednesday morning when he was informed by noon that he was being replaced. Patay reportedly served as OIC for three hours.
By 4 pm, the Philippine National Police Regional Office (PRO) XI announced that Col. Sherwin Butil, former head of the Regional Information and Communications Technology Management Division will be the DCPO OIC.
But five hours later, PRO XI announced around 9 pm that Col. Hansel Maratan will be the acting director.
PRO XI spokesperson Major Catherine Dela Rey has told reporters that this is part of their jobs.
“We can be relieved anytime, assigned to anywhere. This is part of our duties as police officers,”
But Wednesday’s case was unprecedented. In an interview on Thursday with DZBB Super Radyo, dela Rey said PRO XI Regional Director General Nicolas Torre III first issued the order for Butil to replace Patay, but later the National Police Commission through a memo signed by General Sidney Hernia, Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, designated Marantan as acting director of DCPO.
Dela Rey did not give details when asked what was the basis for the successive replacement and selection of police chiefs.
The DCPO has had three OICs in the past two months. On May 24, Colonel Rolindo Soguilon assumed the post when 35 police heads were relieved in an investigation on seven killings in drug bust operations.
Soguilon filed for a leave of absence on Monday, making Torre assign Patay to the vacated DCPO directorship.
Marantan is the acting director, which has limited capacity than an OIC.
Dela Rey said the succession of new DCPO heads has nothing do to with the political situation, implying the rift between the Marcos administration and the Dutertes who dominate Davao City politics with its thrust on public security.
Dela Rey did not answer calls from Davao Today for an interview.
Patay has been linked by a news report as one of the “Davao Boys” assigned to Metro Manila in implementing former President Duterte’s war on drugs campaign. He recently appeared in a House committee hearing on this issue.
Patay also served as Tagum City Police Chief, then was assigned as commander of the Quezon City Police District during Duterte’s term, and after that was assigned as director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Central Visayas. He was head of the PNP XI Regional Operations Command before his instatement as OIC of DCPO.
Marantan, former head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) – National Capital Region, faced two controversies in his career.
In 2013, he was dismissed over a shootout in Atimonan, Quezon that killed suspected gambling lord Vic Siman. He was reinstated through an appeal granted by Napolcom in 2017.
Last year, he was relieved for command responsibility after his personnel were implicated in extortion on Chinese businessmen during a raid in Parañaque. But he was later cleared and reinstated/
Marantan received an award for enforcing the search warrants on the properties of former Negros Oriental congressman Arnulfo Teves Jr which yielded unlicensed firearms.
Meanwhile, Mayor Sebastian Duterte criticized Torre in a statement last Tuesday for the reshuffling of police station commanders and head of the city’s Special Operations Group, saying the move “undermines the hard work” of police officials and personnel and “will not help in sustaining the city’s peace and security situation.”(davaotoday.com)
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