CABANATUAN CITY – The new Central Luzon police director “went ballistic” during his first command visit to Nueva Ecija on Monday afternoon as he expressed dismay over the “measly” 51 percent rate of accomplishment in terms of the number of drug-cleared barangays in the entire region.
“This is disappointing because the President has only about one year and eight months left and yet we only accomplished 51 percent,” said new Police Regional Office 3 chief Brig. Gen. Valeriano T. De Leon, in his 30-minute “Talk to his Men” speech at the NEPPO gymnasium here.De Leon cited the figure that was fed to him by the regional chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, who paid him a courtesy visit at his office on Friday.
The new RD’s first command visit was also graced by Sta. Rosa mayor Josefino “Otep” M. Angeles, Talugtug Mayor Pacifico Monta, San Antonio Vice Mayor Julie Maxwell and municipal legal officer Atty. Jennifer P. Arceo.
De Leon was accompanied here by members of his command group — Col. Jonas T. Amparo, chief of the regional staff, Col. Rommel S. Batangan, RPRMD, Col. Fitz A. Macariola, chief-RID, and Lt. Col. Amado A. Mendoza Jr., ORLRDD.
Due to the below par” accomplishment rate, the police general directed all provincial directors in the region to do an immediate performance audit of all chiefs of police pertaining to their respective illegal drugs exploits and submit it to his office by Thursday.
“It is not good to see chiefs of police doing other things. Lumabas kayo mga hepe, I don’t want you to enjoy the comforts of your air-conditioned rooms. I ask you to go out and intensify our anti-illegal drugs and crime prevention efforts. Nakikita kayo pero hindi nararamdaman,” said De Leon, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1989, who also served for less than four months as Police Regional Office 7 director in Central Visayas.
He said his first command visit to the province was a “homecoming of sorts. “I am so happy to see the province once again,” said De Leon, who was formerly assigned here as provincial officer of the Nueva Ecija-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in 1998 before his stint as Bulacan CIDG provincial officer.
“I want to push our chiefs of police to do more because we are running out of time, let us make an aggressive move and work with our BADACs (barangay drug abuse councils), kailangan i-improve natin ito. We don’t content ourselves just with the boundary of 50 percent,” De Leon.
The new PRO3 chief first hogged the headlines in 2013 after being relieved as Quezon police provincial commander due to an alleged shootout where several criminal gang members ended up dead in Atimonan town.
De Leon said he wanted his police chiefs to engage local chief executives in the anti-illegal drug campaign by reporting to them barangay officials who are uncooperative in this national effort to rid the country of the drug scourge.
Regarding the campaign against loose firearms, De Leon, former head of the PNP’s Firearms and Explosive Office (FEO), said the police has an efficient and effective database which could monitor licensed and unregistered firearms or those with expired gun permits.
“Sa loose firearms alam ko naman napakarami dito, marami na ring hindi nagrehistro dahil hindi nakaqualify, marami na din ayaw magparehistro, because we have an efficient database, they do not want na malaman na mayroon silang baril,” he added.
