BAGUIO CITY – Concerned barangay officials in the city called on Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan and the members of the Local Screening Committee to select a responsible and trusted City Director of the Baguio city Police Office (BCPO) once the revised shortlist will be submitted to them for screening, citing their opposition to the inclusion of Senior Superintendent Ramil Saculles, current BCPO officer-in-charge, because of his alleged insensitivities to their plight.
In a random interview by Herald Express with a number of barangay officials around the city, most of the officials accused Saculles of being arrogant, unmindful of and insensitive to the issues and concerns being brought to his attention that had resulted to their being demoralized over the past several months since he was assigned as BCPO officer-in-charge.
The concerned barangay officials expressed fear that once the Local Screening Committee will select Saculles as the permanent BCPO City Director, he will surely become more arrogant to them and his clients unlike in the past where BCPO chiefs of police enjoyed their trust and confidence.
In terms of their barangay fund-raising activities, the barangay officials alleged that Saculles wants a certain Toyoy, who is an alleged gambling operator, to be the operator of all Bingo sa Barangay activities in the different parts of the city even if the barangays have already chosen their desired operators for their fund-raising events.
According to them, the case of Kagitingan barangay is a glaring example of how influential Toyoy is to the BCPO official because the Bingo sa Barangay activity in the said barangay is not yet able to operate as the police officer is allegedly recommending that Toyoy be the operator amidst the endorsement of the barangay of another operator, thus, the stalemate on the matter.
The embattled barangay officials claimed, unlike in the past where there were no undue interruptions in the operations of the different Bingo sa Barangay outlets in the city, it is only during the time of Saculles that there were unexplained repeated interruptions in their operations with the orders allegedly coming from the local chief executive being used by the police as a reason. However, when the matter is validated with the concerned official, it turns out that such undue disturbance caused by the police to their operations is not untrue.
The sources claim there seems to be a grand design of the BCPO officer-in-charge to allegedly takeover their Bingo sa Barangay operations with his alleged anointed operator even if his desired operator is unwanted by the barangays.
The members of the Local Screening Committee decided to return the shortlist to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for them the inclusion of other available police officers and those willing to undergo the stringent screening process for the selection of the next BCPO chief.
By HENT
