QC police, fire chiefs shuffled

Quezon City hugged the headlines past mid-year of 2023 when the city police and its fire chiefs were replaced over their alleged lapses.

Incidents saw the stepping down of Quezon City Police District chief P/Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III in 27 August following criticism for a press conference he conducted with a gun-toting dismissed policeman Wilfredo Gonzales who was involved in a road rage incident.

Torre was criticized for allowing Gonzales to speak at a press conference at Camp Karingal. In the said viral video, Gonzales was caught assaulting a cyclist and threatening the biker by drawing his firearm.

Torre, who institutionalized the three-minute response time of QCPD to any eventuality resigned out of  "delicadeza."

The Philippine National Police immediately assigned a new commander at QCPD after the courtesy resignation of Torre in the person of Police Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan, who served as the PNP Public Information Office chief.

Meantime, City Fire Marshal Aristotle Bañaga and his inspection chief Chief Inspector Dominic Salvacion were relieved over their blunders on inspecting establishments to prevent fire incidents to happen and lapses committed in the wake of several fire incidents this year in their jurisdiction.

Included in the incidents was the deadly 31 August fire in Tandang Sora which 15 people killed and triggered a City Council investigation which found serious lapses in inspection processes led  by insufficient site inspection for the Fire Safety Inspection Certificate application of business, and no inspection at all for the same purpose in 2022 and 2023.

The severity of this year's incidents, according to Mayor Joy Belmonte, necessitates a call for a change in leadership of the QCFD as she cited that their evaluation conducted on fire incidents that occurred this year showed an average of more damage, injury, and deaths compared to previous years.

Fire Marshal F/Sr. Supt. Flor-Ian Guerrero took over as the new QC Fire Marshal who immediately work on inspecting the over 34,000 establishments that his predecessors left behind.