MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte asked Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año to fix the Philippine National Police while its chief post remains vacant.
In a speech during his visit to earthquake-affected evacuees of Cotabato on Monday, Duterte said police in provinces are “okay” but Manila cops are different “that’s why I did not appoint a PNP [chief].”
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“I told General Año to lead it first,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The PNP is under the DILG.
Duterte said he tasked Año, a former military man, “to fix the police so that by the time we make the exit, two years from now, at least the problems of the Filipino people will not be that that heavy.”
The chief executive has yet to appoint a replacement to the top cop post after former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde stepped down from his position days ahead of his retirement.
Before leaving his post, Albayalde was embroiled in controversy over his supposed links to the so-called “ninja cops” or erring policemen who resold the shabu seized in a raid in Pampanga in 2013.
Año submitted a list of contenders for the top cop post to Duterte last October.
The top bets are current PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, deputy chief for operations Lt. Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan and directorial staff chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar.
Last November, Duterte reportedly was having a hard time finding an “honest” person to take over the PNP.
He also said he would rather take the reins of leadership of the PNP rather than give it to somebody he cannot trust. — Kristine Joy Patag