GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 Sept) – Two police officers here were relieved from their posts for creating disturbance while heavily intoxicated inside the city police office compound on Monday night.
Chief Supt. Alex Paul Monteagudo, Region 12 police director, said Wednesday he personally ordered the immediate relief as well as the filing of appropriate charges against Chief Insp. Jardi Mont Sibal and Insp. Nemesio Calipjo, who reportedly came in drunk, created trouble and fired indiscriminately inside the city police’s public safety company (CPSC) headquarters at the Camp Fermin Lira here.
He said the erring police officers have been disarmed and were now at the custody of the city police’s personnel holding and accounting unit.
Sibal headed he CPSC’s anti-illegal drugs special operations team (CAIDSOT) while Calipjo was chief of the unit’s theft and robbery section.
A report released by the city police office said Calipjo initially turned up heavily drunk at the CPSC headquarters around 6 p.m. Monday.
Calipjo later created some disturbance and fired two shots in the process, said deputy city police director Supt. Ruel Berango.
He said Calipjo hastily left the scene after the incident, leaving behind a drunken Sibal who reportedly made another scene at the CPSC office.
Berango, who was among the police officials who responded at the scene, said they immediately detained Sibal at the CAIDSOT lockup and was joined by Calipjo after he surrendered around 11 p.m. Monday.
“He (Calipjo) reasoned that he was just venting his frustration at that time because of his implication in the CPSC extortion case,” the police official said.
Berango was referring to the obstruction of justice charges filed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Region 12 against Calipjo in connection with the extortion-related entrapment operation last Sept. 6 at the CPSC office.
Acting on orders from Monteagudo, the CIDG launched the entrapment operation over a complaint that a man posing as intermediary for the local police was trying to extort money from the family of a detained illegal drug suspect in exchange for the dismissal of the latter’s case.
During the operation, CIDG operatives caught an alleged extortionist identified only as a certain Bering in the act of receiving money from the complainants.
The payoff reportedly happened inside the CPSC compound and in the presence of Police Officer 3 Leopoldo Pascual, a former unit operative who was reassigned to the city police’s intelligence and detective management bureau.
But CIDG operatives failed to arrest the suspects due to the intervention then of CPSC head Supt. Jesse Ramos.
The incident caused the relief and arrest of Pascual, Ramos and CPSC deputy head Chief Insp. Edgar Yago, who were now under the custody of the Region 12 police’s personnel holding and accounting unit.
The CIDG filed various administrative and criminal charges against Pascual, Ramos and Yago in connection with the extortion case and the bungled entrapment operation. Calipjo was implicated in the case for alleged “obstruction of justice.”
Monteagudo said Calipjo’s actions on Monday night were highly improper as there are proper venues where he could have aired his sentiments over the case.
“He (Calipjo) should not have acted that way and since he fired his gun, he will now be facing more charges,” Monteagudo said.
He added that being a police officer, Calipjo should have been the one setting an example in terms of properly responding to a case filed against him through proper procedures. (Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews)