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City hall gives 'Cesar
what's due to Cesar'
Bohol Sunday Post
June 15, 2008

The biblical injunction "to give Cesar what is due to Cesar" has never been truer in the case of Chief Inspector Jacinto Cesar who is slated to be promoted to another assignment outside Bohol.

When news broke out of the impending transfer of Chief Inspector Cesar as city police chief, not a few tongues started wagging.

But S/Supt. Edgardo Ingking, provincial police director came to the rescue of Cesar's transfer saying that there was nothing irregular in his promotion.

Although he has yet to receive the order, Supt. Ingking said like a good soldier, Cesar should follow the directive where he is to be assigned.

In a check with Cesar, he confirmed that he was slated for transfer at the PNP planning office in Cebu. He denied, however, that he sought for his own transfer because he no longer likes his present assignment.

But rumors persisted that there was something fishy in Cesar's Cebu assignment.

Ascribing bad blood between the chief of police and City Mayor Dan Neri Lim, the yarn peddled around given Cesar's transfer was that the animosity has finally exploded into the open.

Cesar's impending transfer provided grist to the city's rumor mill saying that the chief of police sought for another assignment because the city was remiss in releasing intelligence funds for police mobility.

Political enemies of Mayor Lim have time and again feasted on these rumors that he was not transparent in the disbursement of intelligence funds.

Confronted with this nagging issue, Mayor Lim countered that by operations of law, intelligence funds are treated as confidential in nature and therefore not subject to audit.

When asked if the discharge of his function as city police chief was hobbled by lack of funds, he said it was possible that law enforcement was hampered.

But knowing that funds are scarce, he has to make do with what he has in order to keep the crime volume under his jurisdiction at bay.

Debunking insinuations that he was not getting intelligence funds from the city mayor's office, Cesar said it was simply not true. He said that funding support from the mayor's office may not be coming in regular basis but at least there is something to expect when the need arises.

Supt. Ingking for his part admitted that he was not privy to arrangements involving the disbursement of intelligence funds from the city mayor's office.

However, if he is going to be asked if the regular intelligence allocation coming from his office is always available when needed, he can say with all sincerity that it is there when the recipient needs it, say the city police station.

The local police were placed in a bad light recently after a series of killings and robberies. It even earned the city the unsavory moniker "crime city".

According to Cesar, it would be unfair to blame the entire city police organization for an increase in crime incidents in this city.

Commenting on the recent hold-up involving a gas station in Dao, Cesar admitted that the police are yet to solve the crime because no witnesses have showed up to bolster the solution of the robbery.

The chief of police also admitted that several robberies in the past remain unsolved with the same familiar reason-lack of witnesses.

CESAR HERE UNTIL AUG. 1

Meanwhile, the impending promotion of will have to wait until Aug. 1.
Informed sources said Cesar's lateral promotion to a higher unit was put on hold when Mayor Lim requested that he remain in his post for at least three months.

The request was made in a letter Lim sent to Chief Supt. Ronald Roderos, PNP 7 regional chief.

Lim told Roderos that information has been going around regarding Cesar's impending transfer from his present responsibility.

"If true, this move is very sudden and surprising to us," the mayor noted.

He said that it comes at a time when the city has barely recovered from the onslaught of criminality and lawlessness that greeted the year.

Lim said the impact of the wage of violence was such that the media tagged Tagbilaran a "crime city".

"Through a combination of government action borne out of concern, private sector participations and of course silent but unrelenting police work, we have brought law and order back on the street," he added.

The mayor said Cesar obviously plays a vital role in all these.

"He has been a silent but unmistakable factor behind the police component in bringing about not only the solution to these crimes but more importantly in preventing more such lawlessness from taking place," he added.

Lim requested Roderos to extend Cesar's tenure "just to be able to ensure that we don't change horses in midstream".

"The adjustment to a new (chief of police) without the preparations needed for it could be exploited by lawless elements to create havoc in our city," he added.

Lim said this will also be an opportunity for us to look for the next police chief based on the credentials and criteria that Tagbilaran requires for such position and responsibility.

The mayor had also wanted Cesar to stay on at least for the duration of the Sandugo festival next month.

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