Salcedo calls for SP probe on Rapiz's acts, bids for transfer of post, dismissal from PNP
The town of Sara, Iloilo under 'Nazi rule'? And a top cop in Northern Iloilo a subordinate of Fifth District Representative Niel Tupas Jr. and not of Police Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas?
Such were the questions posed by Board Member Jeneda Salcedo, president of the Liga nga mga Barangay in Iloilo and ex-officio member of the 9th Iloilo Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP).
In a privilege speech yesterday, Salcedo called for an immediate probe on what she said were "atrocities" perpetuated by Police Chief Inspector Leroy Rapiz. Rapiz is the director of the 608th Police Mobile Group that covers Northern Iloilo towns.
Entitled "Berdugo, The rape of our rights," Salcedo began her speech with a joke cum reported reality in the north.
Like a cat caught "police way," beaten until the cat admits it is actually a tiger, Salcedo said Rapiz has seemingly been "emboldened by the patience of the good people of Sara.
As such. Rapiz allegedly "widened the scope of his illegal and terrorist acts..."
"He installed checkpoints in the various area with gusto and worse, without a proper signboard. In this acts, the provisions of the Bill of Rights are trampled mercilessly," Salcedo said. "Provocation is the name of the game for Rapiz."
Salcedo also decried what she said were the apparent selective checkpoints that "flagrantly violated" provisions on the Constitution.
"I do know also that by his failure to confer with the local authorities Rapiz has blatantly violated Republic Act No. 8551 providing for the Reform and Reorganization of the Philippine National Police….," she said. "Clearly, the Mobile Group headed by Rapiz is being used as a tool for political harassment. And so it follows, as surely as dusk descends, that to denigrate politics in a democracy is to instill nostalgia to the dictatorship."
Alongside the probe sought by Salcedo, she also called that the supposed acts of Rapiz be condemned, Rapiz be declared 'persona-non-grata' in the province "and request the PNP to include this in his 201 file."
Salcedo also urged the PNP to order Rapiz' immediate transfer out of Iloilo and eventually, order his dismissal from the service.