DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Philippine National Police Regional Office 11 (PRO-11) criticized a news report regarding the statement and policies made by the new regional police director during a command meeting with police chiefs in the region.
Newsline Philippines reported the story on June 29, with the headline: “Police XI Director calls for dawn command conference with DCPO station commanders”, were the new regional chief, General Nicolas Torre III reportedly gave cash incentives to some police station commanders.
But the PRO-11 strongly reacted to a quote in the article attributed to Torre which it said is “wrongful and malicious”.
The article, written by Newsline publisher Editha Caduaya, posted a quote allegedly made by Torre who observes that: “hindi nagsusuntukan ang mga tao dito, nagpapatayan na agad (People don’t punch each other anymore, they just kill each other right away)”
The PRO-11 clarified that Torre was “interpreting the statistics” presented in their June 28 Zoom meeting by the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) on the first half of the year that there are only three incidents of physical injuries reported by DCPO compared to 22 cases of killings.
“Interpreting the statistics, (Gen.) Torre challenged the DCPO officers to properly record the numbers because he noted that there were 22 reported killings for the period as compared to only three (cases of) physical injuries, thus, if indeed the figures were accurate, then it would paint a community whose people kill each other seven times more than they maul each other which is very unlikely considering the reputation of Davao City as a very safe city,” their statement said.
The statement said Torre believes cases of physical injury as a result of arguments “is a precursor crime to more serious crimes thus if not properly recorded, evaluated, and addressed, would eventually lead to more serious crimes such as killings.”
The regional director also advised DCPO to take action and coordination on rape cases in the city, which recorded 41 incidents which he said is an average of two rape cases in a week.
On the issue of rewards, PRO-11 said Torre did give rewards to station commanders who carried their hand-held radios. Caduaya’s report alleged that Torre gave cash incentives to a couple of commanders who impressed him during the meeting.
The statement said that Torre will not be affected by the news story.
During the command meeting, Torre said he wants to replicate his “three-minute response time (3MRT)” to crime and emergency calls which he implemented in his prior stint as commander of the Quezon City Police District.
The regional director said this will complement Davao City’s public safety and control system which he said is the most advanced nationwide.
The PRO 11 said Caduaya must have been “over-excited in her reporting” that made a wrong attribution.
Newsline Philippines posted the PRO statement on its website, and added that it stands by its story.
Davao Today learned that there were strong exchanges between Caduaya and members of the Davao AFP-PNP Press Corps on her story.(davaotoday.com)
davao city, DCPO, Extrajudicial Killings
