Sinas deserves promotion despite ‘flaws’ – PNP chief

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police chief Camilo Cascolan said Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas, Metro Manila Police chief, was a good officer who deserved a promotion despite being charged with violating quarantine rules and having some “flaws and lapses.”

“I think he needs to be up to a directorial staff or a certain position that is fit most especially for him. I believe he is an expert for training of personnel and recruitment,” Cascolan told reporters at Camp Crame on Wednesday.

Cascolan, who succeeded Gen. Archie Gamboa early this month, was asked about Sinas when he defended his move to reshuffle top officers around the country and the cancellation of one appointment made by his predecessor.

“All officers deserve promotion, most especially General Sinas [who] did his job well. There may be some flaws or lapses on his part [but] in [the] evaluation alone, he has done his job well,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

In a television interview also on Wednesday, he said “the guy deserves also an evaluation and of course a promotion, too.”

“He has done good things and that is all I can really say,” he added.

Cascolan did not specify the position he was considering for Sinas.

55th birthday treat

Sinas and 18 other officers were charged with violating the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and a Taguig City ordinance, which requires the wearing of face mask and physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He and his men were photographed without masks and partying during the traditional police “mañanita” dawn serenade on his 55th birthday at the National Capital Region Police Office headquarters in Taguig City last May.

He was also slapped with administrative charges by the PNP Internal Affairs Service. He later apologized for causing “anxiety to the public,” saying he never intended to break quarantine regulations.

Asked about Sinas’ possible replacement, Cascolan said he was considering Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao, police chief of Region 4-A (Calabarzon — Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

‘Midnight appointment’

“He’s doing good. He did his best and he has done good in the PRO 4-A. Not even that, he has a reputation in the service, he is a very competent person too,” he said.

Cascolan, who will serve only until Nov. 10 when he retires, confirmed that he had canceled one appointment made by Gamboa days before retiring.

“It was a midnight appointment,” he said, referring to former PNP Health Service Director Herminio Tadeo Jr., who was appointed by Gamboa as director of the PNP Finance Service.

The PNP chief recalled Tadeo’s appointment and posted him as the new deputy chief of the PNP’s Directorate for Information and Communications Technology Management.

Cascolan named Police Brig. Gen. Rex dela Rosa as head of the PNP Finance Service and appointed Police Brig. Gen. Ronaldo Olay as the chief of the PNP Health Service, the PNP’s medical front-line unit against COVID-19.

“It’s really very hard to reshuffle, most especially if you’re looking for people for the right position,” said Cascolan. He said days after he assumed his post that there would be no “major revamp” in the PNP during his two-month term.

Demoralized

On Wednesday, he defended the reshuffle, saying many officials had retired and other officers “should be going up.” He said he was also “putting the right person at the right job.”

Amid the reshuffle, Cascolan said one police official “was demoralized because he was not able to understand the reorganization of PNP.”

He was referring to Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro whom he had appointed as the head of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation of Southern Luzon on Sept. 9.

But Ferro opted to remain as Central Visayas police chief and so Cascolan kept him there.