Maj. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia
SAN ANTONIO, Nueva Ecija – The mayor of this town slammed on Friday the promotion to the rank of police major general of former Central Luzon police regional director Brig. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia owing to the pendency of a string of administrative and criminal complaints he has filed against him.
Mayor Arvin Salonga said Sermonia’s promotion was a violation of Republic Act 8551 or An Act Providing for the Reform and Reorganization of the Philippine National Police of 1998.
Sec. 38 of RA 8551 provides, among others, that “no uniformed member of the PNP shall be eligible for promotion during the pendency of his or her administrative and/or criminal case or unless he or she has been cleared by the People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB), and the Office of the Ombudsman of any complaints proffered against him or her, if any,” Salonga said.
In separate letters to Civil Service Commission chair Alicia dela Rosa-Bala, Executive Sec. Salvador Medialdea, National Police Commission director Marni Marcos, Jr., and Interior Sec. Eduardo Año, Salonga said he has filed two administrative and two criminal complaints against the general in August 2020.
The cases stemmed from Sermonia’s alleged “whimsical and capricious transfer of four police officers without any justifiable cause” during his stint as Central Luzon police chief.
Salonga maintained the abrupt transfer of police officers and their chief Maj. Roderick Corpuz in July 2020 prejudiced their program against the spread of the coronavirus disease that time.
Salonga believes that Sec. 38 ensures that officialcandidates for promotion “should be beyond reproach and consistently clothed with the highest sense of honesty, integrity, morality and decency while in the performance of official duties and in handling their personal affairs.”
“The complaints that I have lodged against PBG Sermonia show that he runs short of said qualities and his promotion affects the credibility of the Philippine National Police and is thus detrimental in maintaining the public’s faith and trust to the institution,” the local chief executive said.
Salonga prayed that Sermonia’s promotion be annulled. “O kung hindi ma-annul ay huwag muna siyang bigyan ng position,” he said.
Records showed that Pres. Duterte approved in January 2021 the promotion of Sermonia who currently heads the PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations.
He was replaced by Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon at PRO–3 on Oct. 6, 2020.
