LEGAZPI CITY—More than 85 members of the Legazpi Public Safety Office have lost their jobs after Mayor Noel Rosal ordered the city traffic unit abolished on grounds of corruption.
Legazpi police chief Supt. Nilo Berdin, however, decried the sudden abolition of the PSO, forcing him to mobilize police trainees to handle traffic in the city. It was learned the PSO was abolished effective Feb. 5.
Allegations of corruption and lousy traffic operation in the city prompted Rosal to drastically suspend the PSO operation, with none of the 87 city traffic force members retained, according to PSO head Menchu Ofracio.
Rosal temporarily reassigned Ofracio as the city information officer. PSO members, who asked not to be identified, said Ofracio could have given Rosal an inaccurate report, saying not all PSO members were corrupt.
PSO Legazpi was created in 2007 by virtue of a resolution to handle the burgeoning traffic problem in the city, so the police could concentrate on peace and order, crimes against property, robbery and murder cases. Legazpi is the Bicol regional center.
Some three years ago, Legazpi was dubbed as the region’s carnapping capital, following a series of motorcycle snatching incidents. Even those parked in the city malls were easily lost to carnappers, even during day time.
Carnapping incidents, however, suddenly vanished after one suspected carnapper was arrested by the police while about to flee with the motorcycle he intended to steal in broad day light at nearby Daraga town.
Police probers forced the arrested suspect to reveal a Legazp-based junk trader as the buyer of stolen motorcycles, parts and engines, who was earlier arrested after a raid in his warehouse found volumes of motorcycle parts and engines declared as junk.
A PSO member who claimed he has been in the traffic force for 12 years since before the creation of the PSO in 2007, said he was receiving P200 a day but has not been involved in the alleged corruption scandal. “I hope the mayor would reconsider his decision not to rehire some of the 87-member traffic force,” he said.
Rosal said the city will restore the PSO unit in due time, and the local government is evaluating applicants who must pass its strict screening. It is believed most of the old PSO members were recommended by political allies in City Hall, if not their relatives.
Rosal said it may take three to four months before the PSO operation is restored, given his instruction that only the fit and those who can resist corruption should be recruited.
