GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has designated a top official of the Police Regional Office (PRO-12) in Soccsksargen as acting police director in this city.
Lt. Col. Aldrin Gonzales, PRO-12 public information officer, said Tuesday that Col. Oliver Enmodias, the deputy regional director for operations, has been appointed as officer-in-charge of the city police office following Monday’s abrupt relief of Police Col. Raul Supiter.
Supiter and Col. Manuel Lukban Jr., the chief of the regional directorial staff, were relieved by PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde in the wake of the ongoing investigation into the nearly PHP2-billion investment scam that have victimized police personnel and local residents.
Gonzales said Enmodias will temporarily assume within the week as city police director until a permanent replacement is appointed.
He said the new city police chief was primarily tasked to lead the ongoing preparations here for the upcoming May 13 local and national midterm elections.
“He (Enmodias) was given the usual directives, mainly the maintenance of peace and order in the city, and the supervision of the daily police operations,” he told reporters.
Prior to his assignment in Soccsksargen, Enmodias headed the recruitment and selection division of the PNP Directorate for Personnel Records and Management (DPRM).
As deputy regional director for operations, he spearheaded the special investigation task groups on the bomb attacks in Isulan town, Sultan Kudarat and in this city last year.
City Mayor Ronnel Rivera welcomed on Tuesday the immediate designation of Enmodias as acting city police director, which he said could prevent a “vacuum” in the local police’s operations.
“I have known him for some time being regional operations chief and aware how he performs,” Rivera said.
The mayor assured that the city government will continue to cooperate and provide the necessary support to the operations of the city police office.
The mayor thanked Supiter for serving the city for over a year, noting that the latter “did his best, although there were also lapses.”
Supiter and Lukban were reassigned effective Monday to the police holding and accounting unit of the DPRM in Camp Crame.
Lukban will be replaced by Col. Richie Posadas, who hails from PRO-7 or Central Visayas.
The relief came after they were tagged as allegedly involved in the Ponzi-like investment scheme, dubbed Police Paluwagan Movement or PPM. Most of its recruits were policemen, who were lured into investing their money for interests of up to 120 percent a month.
Lukban and Supiter’s specific involvement remains unclear but both have repeatedly denied any knowledge of the scheme’s operation, which was reportedly based for some time at the city police office before it started to collapse in January. (PNA)
