Querol orders Valerio to adopt new anti-crime drive
The takeover of Senior Supt. Marietto Valerio as acting city police director will pave the way for a new anti-crime campaign of the Iloilo City Police Office, said Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr., police regional director, yesterday.
“(During Basngi’s time) there was no strong community-police relations and that affected our peace and order programs,” he said.
Querol, who conducted an inspection in various areas in the city yesterday, which also marked Valerio’s first day in office, said he wants the ICPO to implement a complete change in its strategies in maintaining peace and order.
The new campaign would mainly adopt the re-invigorated patrol system, he said, adding that Valerio is expected to address criminality with tangible solutions.
Querol added that Valerio should also ensure that policemen are visibly patrolling the streets.
“I want him to implement that immediately,” he said, adding that Valerio can ably carry out such strategies like he did when he was police chief of highly-urbanized cities of Pasay and Makati.
Querol said he also wants to abolish the Community Police Action Centers in Iloilo City as he would prefer that barangay tanods and Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams to man these units instead.
He added that he has instructed Valerio to focus on unsolved crimes and form a team that will go against criminal gangs.
Bigger Task
Meanwhile, Valerio acknowledged that he is facing a bigger task, but he assured Ilonggos that he will do his best to maintain peace and order situation in Iloilo City.
“I will implement all the instructions. But of course, we need all the help of the populace by giving us the right information,” he said.
Valerio was advised only Sunday night that he would be appointed as ICPO caretaker, on top of his assignment as chief of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division.
He succeeded Senior Supt. Dennis Basngi, who was relieved as ICPO director effective yesterday.*
