The exemplary display of honesty by Police Inspector LIbertad Teruel who returned P8.5 million erroneously deposited by the Land Bank of the Philippines to the account of the Negros Occidental PNP Credit Cooperative, is apparently not an isolated case in the police service.

SPO2 Rene Infante, chief clerk of the Negros Occidental PNP Investigation Branch, also returned P30,000 in cash to a bank in Bacolod City, provincial police chief Charles Calima said.

Calima said yesterday that Infante encashed a check for P31,000 at a Bacolod bank in November last year. The bank teller erroneously gave P61,000 to Infante who did not count the money before leaving the bank, he added.

Upon discovering the error, Infante immediately returned to the bank, although it was already closed, and returned the P30,000, Calima said.

In July last year, Teruel, the administrative officer of the Negros Occidental PNP Police Cooperative, discovered that the PNP credit cooperative of which she was the treasurer, had gotten richer by P8.5 million because the LBP had deposited the amount to the account of the cooperative. At the time, Teruel was the only person authorized by the cooperative to withdraw from its deposit at LBP, the police said.

Infante and Teruel were honored yesterday during celebration of PNP Ethics Day at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. in Bacolod City, where Romeo Baldevarona, officer-in-charge of the Commission on Human Rights sub-office, was guest of honor and speaker.

"Their exemplary display of honesty and strength of character makes us all proud here at NOPPO," Calima said, adding that they are worthy of emulation by their colleagues in the police service.

The honesty of Teruel and Infante, which had recently gotten the attention of local media, was announced by Calima in what could be an attempt to boost the morale and improve the image of Negros policemen.

CHR records show that the police hold the record of allegedly being the number one human rights violators in Negros Occidental from 1995 to 2005.

Majority of the policemen charged for maltreatment were Police Officer 1 in rank.*GPB

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