ILOILO City – Beginning today, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) has a new director: Police Colonel Leo Batiles, then chief of the Regional Headquarters Support Unit (RHSU) of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
He replaces Police Colonel Uldarico Garbanzos who will be retiring next month.
A turnover ceremony would be held at 2 p.m. today on the ICPO grounds.
Batiles, who hails from Capiz, was a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) class 1994. He has long been assigned in Western Visayas.
He was also a former commander of the Regional Force Battalion 6 (RFB-6), assistant commander of the Regional Operations and Plans Division of PRO-18, and company commander of a mobile group in Capiz.
He had stints, too, with police stations in Roxas City (Capiz), Nabas and Altabas (Aklan), and Escalante City and Sipalay City (Negros Occidental).
Batiles also completed Special Action Force (SAF) and airborne courses.
“Our new ICPO director is a seasoned police official who has enough experience both in administrative work and operations,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Arnel Solis, PRO-6 spokesperson.
On the other hand, Garbanzos said in his 11-month stint, this city remained “peaceful and orderly.”
“I did my best to maintain Iloilo City’s being a peaceful place. I’m thankful to the local government unit, especially to our city mayor Jerry Treñas for trusting me, and also to the public,” Garbanzos said.
Under Garbanzos, the ICPO was adjudged as the best city police office in the region and in the whole country during the 119th police service anniversary./PN