| Dumaguete City, Philippines | Friday, August 31, 2007 |
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order for Buenafe's relief
BY JUANCHO GALLARDE
| Central Visayas regional PNP director Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio
has confirmed that he has been issued a verbal instruction from national
headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City to relieve Oriental Negros
provincial police director Sr. Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe.
Alarcio, however, declined to name the ranking PNP official who gave the instructions. He also confirmed that Buenafe had been told to go on leave, a move that many police officials view as a subtle cover-up for Buenafe's exit from the province. But, reacting to mounting public clamor over the matter, Alarcio said the relief order is not yet official and final, considering that an investigation is still underway for possible procedural lapses on the part of Buenafe, in relation to the arrest of another suspect in the La Libertad ambush-slay. Alarcio cautioned the people against over-reacting to Buenafe's possible relief, saying that, right now, he is still reporting for duty at Camp Fernandez in Sibulan town. The people are anticipating a problem where there is none yet, Alarcio pointed out. He confirmed that the verbal instruction to relieve Buenafe stemmed from the "questionable" manner in which William Paunilian, a suspect in the ambush-slay in La Libertad town, had been delivered to authorities. Buenafe was ordered to explain why Paunilian was not immediately turned over to the Regional Trial Court in Guihulngan that had issued his arrest order, Alarcio said. Members of the CIDG-Southern District had arrested Paunilian on Aug. 13 in Makati City and brought him back to Oriental Negros on Aug. 17, and later to the provincial police headquarters at Camp Fernandez, in Sibulan. While Buenafe insisted that it was the responsibility of the arresting officers to follow proper procedures, Alarcio said Buenafe could still be held liable, being the Task Force Manluminsag commander. The Task Force, composed of the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation, the CIDG and other law enforcement agencies, was created to focus on the ambush in La Libertad last March 9 where seven people were killed and many others wounded. Paunilian, who is now detained at the provincial jail, has vowed to turn state witness and testify in court that former Rep. Jacinto Paras of the first district was the mastermind behind the ambush.*JG |
