Natividad to equal, if not surpass, Agustin

Pursuant to Gov. Edgar Chatto’s marching orders, new Bohol police head Sr. Supt. Felipe Natividad  vowed to at least approximate, if not surpass, his predecessor’s anti-drug performance.

Natividad admitted the record accomplishment of former provincial police director Sr. Supt. Dennis Agustin, who is now a regional command staff is a tough act to follow.

But he will do the best he can to “fill in his (Agustin) big shoes” as the new Camp Dagohoy chief pledged to sustain more aggressively Bohol’s serious fight in stamping out the menace.

A former intelligence chief of the central Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Natividad said Chatto ordered him to work hard in eliminating illegal drug.

Combating drug at all fronts without fear or favor was the governor’s non-negotiable demand in then choosing Agustin to head the Bohol PNP in 2013.

As soon as he turned over his post to his successor the other week, Agustin thanked Chatto for the latter’s earnest campaign against drug and full support, confidence and trust in his command of the Bohol police.

Natividad, on the other hand, promised to continue Bohol’s anti-drug accomplishment, including the campaign for genuine self-reform as indicated in the number of surrendered pushers and users. He will focus on the internal cleansing of the police organization and remove from service the misfits and scalawags led by the drug-engaged.

But the weeks-old Bohol PNP leadership does need the degree of support that the Boholanos extended to the Agustin command.

“Support me,” Natividad asked the Boholanos, “and don’t hesitate to tell me your concerns.”

Many Boholanos commonly believed it would be an honest assessment that the drug problem in Bohol seemed “neglected” for so long even before Chatto assumed governor.

This had caused the grave extent of drug proliferation until Chatto put Agustin in command of the PNP.

A former mayor of a town in the Second District, which some islands that have become easy drug entry points, was then even reportedly rehabilitated for drug abuse.

On his first command visit at the Camp Sergio Osmeña, Sr. in Cebu City on Tuesday, PNP Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa cited the vital cooperation between the police and local officials in the anti-drug war.

He met with his leading officers and some top local government officials in Central Visayas, including Natividad and Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II who represented the governor. ( With report  from Ven rebo Arigo)