Cebu City police chief relieved from post pending probe of Mayor Navarro slay

Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, the chief of the Cebu City police, was relieved from her post pending investigation on the killing of Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro.

In a statement, Police Brigadier General Valeriano de Leon, Central Visayas police chief, said the administrative relief of Vinluan was effective on Wednesday, October 30.

“I issued [the] administrative [relief] of Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, city director of Cebu City police office, to make her available [in] the investigation being conducted,” De Leon said.

Navarro was killed in an ambush on Friday while being transported to the City Prosecutor's Office after he was arrested Thursday night for allegedly punching a massage therapist.

He was in a convoy accompanied by several police officers, none of whom shot back at the gunmen.

President Rodrigo Duterte had said he wanted the National Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation into the incident, adding that the PNP might have had something to do with Navarro's killing due to the cops' inaction.

"PNP, anong ginawa ng PNP? Baka sila ang pumatay, sila 'yung malapit," Duterte had said.

De Leon, meanwhile, welcomed Duterte’s directive to turnover the probe on the case to the NBI.

“It will provide a perception of impartial investigation sparing us of suspicion of possible whitewash,” De Leon said.

“It will allow my organization and my personnel to focus on the more important functions of anti-criminality and protecting the communities from crime,” he added.

Police Lieutenant General Archie Francisco Gamboa, PNP's officer-in-charge, said pieces of evidence and documents were already turned over to the NBI. — RSJ, GMA News