Albay PNP provincial director sacked
LEGAZPI CITY: The Philippine National Police (PNP) central command sacked the provincial director in Albay following the illegal numbers game controversy.
On Wednesday, February 14, Gov. Edcel Greco “Grex’’ Lagman said he will order the operations of jueteng stopped as he berated Col. Fernando Cunanan Jr. for being highly politicized and held on the neck by some politicians.
Lagman also lambasted Cunanan for allowing himself to be used by politicians whom he referred to as “Dracula.”
The immediate pullout of Cunanan from his post was effected on Friday, February 16, by PNP central office.
In a memorandum issued on February 16 by MGen. Belli Tamayo to BGen. Andre Dizon, regional director in Bicol, Cunanan was relieved from his post immediately a day after Lagman ordered the stoppage of illegal numbers game.
Cunanan will be replaced by Col. Julius Cubos Añonuevo who was also relieved from his post at the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and is to be immediately reassigned to PRO-5 as officer in charge of Albay Provincial Police Office.
Cunanan reiterated that there is no jueteng operation in Albay. According to him, there is no illegal activity going on across the province as they are strictly following the implementation of one strike policy.
In an interview over DZGB, Cunanan said that when he arrived in Albay in 2022, he ordered the stoppage of the so-called “bokis” in Tabaco City.
The mayor of Tabaco City when Cunanan arrived in Albay and took over his post is Krisel Lagman, the elder sister of then-vice governor Grex Lagman. Lagman took his post as governor on Dec. 1, 2022, after then-governor Noel Rosal was unseated from post by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) due to violation of election code.
When Lagman took over, he introduced Cunanan as his cousin but when the Lagmans and Ako Bicol lawmakers’ friendship turned sour, Lagman criticized Cunanan as being held on the neck by his nemesis.
The jueteng controversy in the province came after former Anislag village chieftain Alwin Nimo of Daraga town filed a graft and bribery against Lagman who, according to the former, was receiving P60,000 weekly payola when the latter was vice governor.
Nimo, a self-confessed bagman for illegal numbers game or jueteng, filed graft, bribery, and violations of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and Republic Act 9287 (an Act Increasing the Penalties for Illegal Numbers Game) against Lagman before the Ombudsman on Monday.
Nimo claimed that he initially delivered P60,000 weekly Payola to Lagman from August 2019 to June 2022.
Lagman allegedly demanded the “protection money” from jueteng operators receiving as much as P8 million in bribes from illegal gambling operators.
But Lagman denied the accusation, saying he was just a spare tire as vice governor.