Calizo pushes for Cariaga’s relief

By LITO RULONA,
Correspondent

City councilor and Committee on Police, Fire and Public Safety chairman Romeo Calizo has recommended the relief of Senior Supt. Ronnie Francis Cariaga as Cagayan de Oro City Police director.

Calizo’s recommendation came in reaction to the privilege speech of city councilor George Goking who asked the Police Regional Office 10 to replace all police officers assigned at Cocpo, including Cariaga.

“We’ve got [sic] to relieve him from office and other procedure will follow. If the case would be solve then we will place him back in the position,” he said.

Calizo pointed out that it has been a month since the Enrique “Eking” Fernandez, III had been abducted and Cocpo has been nowhere near solving the incident.

He said Cariaga is accountable under the principle of “command responsibility” despite his relatively good performance as city police director.

“Pulihan lang nato siya kadali to equally capable senior police officers. Why not put-in new police officer temporarily,” Calizo said.

Calizo opined that his recommendation of Cariaga’s temporay relief is for his own benefit.

“Factors of management should not be sacrificed. For delicadeza (and) to erase doubts Cariaga can temporarily (take a leave of absence),” he said.

The city council has been divided over the call of Goking to replace all members of Cocpo.

For councilor Jay Pascual, replacing all members of Cocpo is “unfair and unjust.”

“Dili puwede nga usa lamang ka sayop sa pipila unya tanan na dayun atong ipapahawa og damayon. Dili kini maayo,” he said.

Minority floor leader Leon Gan, however, blames City Mayor Oscar Moreno for the city’s problems on peace and order.

“Ang mayor isip amahan sa dakbayan adunay gahum nga mangingibabaw ilabi na sa kalihukan sa kapolisan. Dili malalis nga in the past terms iyang ibasol nga walay budget for this undertaking but to this time intelligence funds is buhong kaayo,” he said.

Gan added that Goking’s special report and recommendation should be addressed “directly” to Moreno.

Calizo, for his part, said it would also be unfair to put the blame on Moreno.

“With this development, the mayor has entrusted this incident to the police to conduct its own investigation which was led by Supt. Cariaga as the backbone for reinforcement. In this particular situation, kini siya ang atong city police director has done (his) best in case building,” he said.

He also observed that although the trust of the public to the police has started to wane, Cariaga made up for it by helping the National Bureau of Investigation to build up its case against the erring police officers.

“We should help the police get the trust of the people again because if we do not then all of us would also have no reason hold public office,” he said.