5 cops in Iloilo relieved for protecting drug trade
Five policemen found protecting illegal drug operations in Iloilo City have been relieved from their posts, Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr., police regional director, said yesterday.
Querol refused to name them but he said these personnel are assigned at the Iloilo City Police Office and the Police Regional Office 6 headquarters in Iloilo City.
They were reassigned outside of Iloilo City where they could “offer no influence to illegal drug trade in the area,” he said, adding that most, if not all of them, are now with the Iloilo Police Provincial Office.
“Because of their clout before, they could have possibly compromised some anti-illegal drug operations,” Querol said.
He said the intelligence information he gathered guided him in making such a decision, and similar actions will soon be instituted in other parts of the region.
“But I also ordered the city and provincial directors that at their discretion, they could relieve a personnel if they sense that he or she has jeopardized their operations,” he added.
Earlier, Senior Supt. Marietto Valerio, ICPO officer-in-charge, said that three police officers living near the demolished drug den in Brgy. Malipayon, Iloilo City have also been recommended for relief from their posts.
Valerio said he wants them reassigned to the Iloilo Police Provincial Office in Sta. Barbara town for failure to monitor the existence of the rampant drug trade in the area as indicated in the existence of the drug den.*
