PNP implements major revamp
Amid drug recycling controversy
On orders of President Duterte, Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has implemented a major revamp in the police force, affecting senior officials perceived to be close to resigned national police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde.
As OIC, Gamboa has originally no power to effect revamp of key positions but such power of the PNP chief was given to him by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) in a resolution.
Maj. Gen. Amador Corpus will be replaced as director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) by Brig. Gen. Joel Napoleon Coronel, police sources said.
Napoleon is currently the director of the Central Luzon regional police.
Brig. Gen. Edward Carranza will be replaced as director of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police by Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao.
Brig. Gen. Bernabe Balba, the current deputy director for administration of the CIDG, is set to take over the position that would be vacated by Danao as the director of the
Manila Police District.
Corpus and Carranza are both members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1986. Napoleon, on the other hand, belongs to PMA Class 1987 while Danao is from PMA Class 1992. Balba, meantime, is from PMA Class 1988.
The major revamp will also affect Eastern Visayas regional commander Brig. Gen. Dionardo Carlos and Western Visayas regional director Brig. Gen. Rene Pamuspusan.
President Duterte had earlier expressed disappointment with the PNP over the drug recycling issue. PNP officials, for their part, vowed to bounce back.
Seniority matters
As the guessing game heats up for the next chief of the 190,000-strong Philippine National Police (PNP), debates are also raging as to who among the contenders is the fittest to run the drug recycling scandal-rocked police organization.
While President Duterte has the liberty to choose from among the more or less 100 active police generals, his trusted man Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go said the President would likely consider seniority as the basis for his choice.
“The seniority of the PNP Chief candidate is very important for the President,” Go was quoted as saying.
PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said seniority, in the police parlance, does not only mean the number of years a police official was commissioned in the service.
The top three contenders, on the basis of seniority and as recommended by the National Police Commission (Napolcom), are Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, the current PNP officer-in-charge; Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan, the deputy chief for operations; and Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the chief directorial staff.
Gamboa and Cascolan are members of the PMA Class 1986 along with former PNP chiefs Dela Rosa and Albayalde. Eleazar belongs to PMA Class 1987.
Other names are also emerging as contenders such as Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao, the Manila Police District director; and, Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon who was recently appointed as director of the Central Visayas regional police.