PNP reshuffle to affect 3 police generals

Three police generals are set to be affected by the looming reshuffle in the Philippine National Police (PNP) with the retirement of the police director of the Bicol region (Region 5) next month.

The STAR learned that the retirement of Senior Superintendent Roberto Bondoc, officer-in-charge of the Bicol police command, would pave the way for a minor revamp in the PNP.

Sources said Bondoc would likely be replaced by Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, the present police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango, director of the Northern Police District (NPD), is reportedly being considered to replace Goltiao, while Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao, deputy chief for administration of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO), is said to be groomed for the NPD top post.

Tango, the sources said, was originally being eyed to take over the Bicol police command but an influential politician allegedly endorsed Bondoc, who despite his being a junior in rank and with only a few months before his retirement, would be appointed to the post. All regional directors are chief superintendents or one-star generals.

Pagdilao, who belongs to Philippine Military Academy Class 79, was supposed to be appointed as police director of Eastern Visayas (Region 6), but members of PMA Class 77 allegedly opposed his appointment and batted for their batchmate Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas.

Meanwhile, Goltiao has yet to catch former election supervisor Lintang Bedol, the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which meted him a six-month jail term for indirect contempt.

Bedol became controversial after the national and local elections in May last year, when several certificates of canvass were reported missing, and when he snubbed the summons issued to him by the Comelec leadership.