JSCC has jurisdiction over ‘Comelec control’request
Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) director Sr. Supt. Melvin Mongcal said the Joint Security Control Center (JSCC) in Manila will be the one to assess on whether there are enough grounds to place Iloilo City under Comelec control.
Top officials of the Philippine National Police and Comelec comprise the JSCC which has been activated after election period started.
Mongcal’s reaction was in response to the call of Mayor Jerry Treñas to place Iloilo City under Comelec control because of the alleged biases and ineffectiveness of the city’s police.
The call to place Iloilo City under Comelec control is an offshoot of last Monday night’s incident involving the four children of Mayor Treñas and a policeman allegedly assigned as security detail of Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez Sr.
The failure of members of the La Paz police station to apprehend the cop who reportedly harassed Treñas’s children while distributing relief goods to fire victims in Nabitasan Elementary School angered the mayor.
Mongcal said they are still completing the conduct of the investigation regarding the incident. He could not exactly say on whether PO1 Ronnie Refugio is indeed one of the security details assigned to the Gonzalezes.
The city director said they could not assign or ask for the relief of police personnel under the Iloilo City Police Office after the Comelec takes control of the assignment and deployment of personnel.
The city director has only the recommendatory power on the relief and deployment of personnel because of the ban. He added they will provide the PNP hierarchy and the Comelec copies of their investigation regarding the incident involving Refugio.
