Baguio city – President Rodrigo R. Duterte formally appointed Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan as the new chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council in the Cordillera (RPOC CAR) for a fixed term of three years.
The RPOC was organized pursuant to the provisions of Executive Order No. 775, series of 2009 to serve as the region’s policy-making body relative to peace and order among other related issues affecting law and order.
Domogan’s appointment as RPOC-CAR chairperson was personally delivered to him by Engr. Marlo Iringan, regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG-CAR), last Monday.
“We express our gratitude to the President and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno for their trust and confidence to our ability to lead the RPOC-CAR. We look forward to a harmonious working relationship with the different officials of the member agencies for us to be able to craft up-to-date policies suitable in sustaining the peace and order in the region,” Domogan stressed.
He said that there will be no significant policy changes as yet for the RPOC while he is reviewing those that will be retained and those policies that need to be updated, improved or overhauled to conform with the prevailing situation in the region.
According to him, one of the more important issues that will be looked into is the continued existence of marijuana plantation in the different parts of the region despite being the subject of numerous marijuana eradication operations but no cultivators being apprehended and jailed for propagating the illegal hemp in the hinterlands of the region.
On the other hand, he will try to bring to the attention of the RPOC the alleged circumvention by the PNP of the law relative to the assignment of officers-in-charge to sensitive positions of the local police force without consultations with the concerned local chief executives who are empowered to choose the chiefs of police in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
He pointed out the PNP law is clear that an assigned officer-in-charge of a police station is only allowed to stay in his post for a maximum period of thirty days and the PNP is mandated to submit the shortlist of qualified police officers to the local chief executive concerned from which the permanent chief of police will be chosen.
Domogan expressed disappointment over the sudden relief of several senior police officers who were selected by the local screening committee as the chief of the Baguio City Police Office without the proper consultation with him which is not in accordance with sound governance, thus, the need for a policy at least in the region to prevent the occurrence of similar instances in other areas in the region in the future.
He revealed the first RPOC-CAR meeting for this term will be hosted by Ifugao within the first quarter of this year, thus, he is confident that concerned local chief executives from all over the region will be able to attend the said meeting to establish the needed momentum for the body.
By Dexter A. See
