JUST a day after ordering the relief of the police intelligence chief of the Calbayog City Police Office, P/Lt. General Guillermo Eleazar, Philippine National Police Officer-In-Charge (OIC), also sacked Calbayog City police chief, P/Lt. Col. Neil Montaño, over the ambush-slay of Mayor Ronaldo Aquino last March 8, 2021, where 5 others were also killed.
Eleazar, the country’s second highest police official, became PNP-OIC on March 11, 2021, after Chief PNP Debold Sinas, reportedly contracted COVID-19.
A report filed by the Philippine News Agency (PNA), said that Eleazar ordered the relief of Montaño, effective on March 14, 2021.
“The relief order (on Montaño) is in connection with the March 8 incident in Calbayog City which resulted in the death of Mayor Ronaldo Aquino and five other people, including three PNP personnel and at the same time, the irresponsible conduct of his intelligence officer in relation to the letter request to the local court,” said part of the statement Eleazar issued to the public.
Eleazar was referring to the letter-request dated March 12, 2021 sent to the Clerk of Court of Calbayog City by P/Lt. Fernando Calabria, Jr., local city police chief of intelligence, seeking from the court the list of lawyers defending alleged communists and arrested members and officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Montaño will be replaced by Lt. Col. Rodolfo Albotra while Maj. Ruel Burlat was designated as the new chief of the city police’s intelligence unit.
Aside from Montaño and Calabria, nine other non-commissioned officers were reassigned to the Samar Provincial Police Office to undergo “refresher seminar.”
The relief orders were based on the recommendation of Police Regional Office 8 director, P/Brig. Gen. Ronaldo de Jesus.
“This reorganization is intended not only to improve the investigation and intelligence capacity of the Calabayog City Police Station in the light of the two incidents that happened but also to infuse new ideas and strategies on peace and order with the deployment of new police officers in the area,” Eleazar added.
Another new appointee was Maj. Marino Estoño as the company commander of the Calbayog City-based 1st Samar Provincial Mobile Forces Company.
“Estoño just finished his commando course and we expect that his deployment in Calbayog City will calm the tension and address security apprehensions of the local residents as a result of the incident involving Mayor Aquino,” the highly-respected and highly-admired police official added.
Killed on the spot along with Aquino last March 8 were S/Sgt. Rodeo Balonzo and S/Sgt. Romeo Laoyon, and his driver, Dennis Abayon.
Clint John Paul Yauder, a local government employee whose car was passing by when the alleged shootout happened, later died at St. Camillus Hospital in Calbayog while the body of Capt. Joselito Tabada, chief of the Samar Drug Enforcement Unit and acting chief of police of nearby Gandara town, was found under the Laboyao Bridge in Lonoy village on the same night
Aquino, 58, was on his last term. He reportedly came from a tennis match and was on his way to his son’s birthday celebration when ambushed by armed men who later turned out to be policemen (with additional report from Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA).