THE Philippine National Police (PNP) needs a new permanent chief by January next year to sign documents required for procurement of equipments, its spokesperson said on Tuesday, November 19.
“Pagpasok ng bagong taon, para sa pagsimula ng ating procurement, ay kinakailangan na magkaroon na tayo ng bagong Chief PNP. Dahil kung may anumang bagong kontrata na kailangang pirmahan, kailangan isang permanent Chief PNP ang siyang lalagda dito (When the new year comes, we need a new chief of the PNP for the beginning of the procurement. It should be a permanent PNP chief who will sign new contracts),” said PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac in a briefing.
“Subalit kung hindi pa gagawin ng pangulo [na mag-announce ng next PNP chief], wala naman ding magiging problema. Mahaba naman ang taon na isasagawa ang procurement (However, if the president will not announce [the next PNP chief], there won’t be any problem. The year for procurement is long anyway),” he added.
On Monday, November 18, President Rodrigo Duterte led a command conference of top officials of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Malacañang.
Banac said the conference focused on the accomplishments of the Executive Order No. 70 that created the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict. There were no mentions about the next PNP chief.
While waiting for Duterte’s newest appointment, all administrative and operational functions of the PNP continue to be under the watch of officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa.
Gamboa is among the three top PNP officials recommended by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to be the next chief. Aside from him, Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan, deputy chief for operations; and Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the directorial staff are being considered as well.
Año added that two younger police officials outside the list are also being considered by Duterte for the coveted post.
