Escalante City council withdraws support for police force

For failing to consult the mayor on the dismissal of 12 policemen, the Escalante City council passed on Monday three resolutions withdrawing all support to the police, a report of the Visayan Daily Star said.   The report quoted Councilor Santiago Maravilla as saying the city officials were insulted by the relief of 12 policemen from their town by Western Visayas regional police head Chief Superintendent Cipriano Querol without consulting with Mayor Melecio Yap.   On its report on Tuesday, the Visayan Daily Star said the three resolutions passed by the city council on Monday included:

• the withdrawal and stoppage of all forms of support to the Philippine National Police by the city government; 
• an order directing the legal office of the city to file a case against the regional and provincial police directors before the Regional Trial Court, to restrain them from the relief and transfer of 12 policemen out of Escalante City, and
• asking the mayor to assign its building currently used by the PNP for the use of the vice mayor and the city council.

  The report said the mayor had been planning to have a new police station worth P2 million built near the Escalante fire station. Yap said the city government withdrew its equipment at the Escalante police station on Saturday because the policemen who had signed the memorandum receipts for the items and are accountable for them had been relieved. He said it is an insult that he is not consulted on the relief of the policemen from his town.   Yap also said in the report that he has not used the police for his own ends or for any illegal activity. Maravilla said what was important was for the police force to acknowledge the role of the mayor.   Meanwhile, Interior provincial head Joy Madayag suggested a dialogue between the police and the Escalante officials to iron out their differences. The report quoted Madayag as saying it is up to the discretion of the local government how much support they would like to extend to the police. However, she said that with the limited resources of the national government, the PNP is very dependent on the support of the local government. - VVP, GMA News