New town top cop surprises mayor

BACOL OD City– Mayor  Rhumyla Mangilimutan of La Castellana, Negros Occidental was clueless that her town had a new acting police chief.

Mangilimutan was surprised when Chief Inspector Joshua Villasis paid a courtesy call at her office on Monday.

As far as she knew, Chief Inspector Garry Alan Resuma was still at the helm of the municipal police station.

Mangilimutan questioned the process of the appointment. She said she was bypassed.

The Local Government Code and National Police Commission rules provide for procedures in designating local police heads, the mayor said, pointing out her stint as a police officer prior to entering politics.

The Philippine National Police should have submitted to her a list of candidates for the municipal police head post from where she would pick the officer of her choice, said Mangilimutan. But this did not happen, she said.

She took a leave from May 17 to 19 and went on vacation abroad.

She reported back to work on Monday and found out Villasis has already been appointed and paying her a courtesy call. Vice Mayor Manuel Vera was clueless, too, she said.

“What is ‘courtesy,’ after all?” Mangilimutan said.

She clarified she had nothing against Villasis. She was questioning the process, not the appointee, she said.

“If they think Villasis is suited in my town, he would have been included in the list of candidates that should have been submitted to me,” said Mangilimutan.

“They violated my right as the local chief executive,” she said. “They pulled out … Resuma without my knowledge.”

Resuma was about to reach his third month leading the La Castellana police station until he was pulled out.

While May 22 was his first day on his new designation, Villasis said the order he received from the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office stated he was assigned in La Castellana effective May 17.

And while he agrees with Mangilimutan that “the mayor has the authority to choose  the chief of police,” Villasis said he was just following an order from a higher command./