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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday said Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr. is the new head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), replacing Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said Caramat’s latest designation is due to regular movements in the police ranks and “some minor problems.”
“There will be a change of leadership in the CIDG today. CIDG Director Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee will be going up to Directorate for Intelligence as the deputy. So magpapalit sila ni Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat (He and Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat will swap posts),” he said in a press briefing.
“We still try to work despite the kaunting mga problema na hinaharap natin (the slight problems we’re encountering) in so far as the CIDG is concerned,” he added.
Azurin also took cognizance of a resolution signed by several generals in support of Lee. Still, according to him, the change in the CIDG leadership is long overdue.
“Ito kasing movement na ito is matagal na dapat. Unfortunately, si Gen. Caramat, medyo may mga inaasikaso pa siya na ibang mga personal na problema, so we were just preparing na, in case hindi pa siya pwede, we [will] recommend Ronald Lee to remain as CIDG Director until ready na si Gen. Caramat,” he explained.
(This movement should have taken effect a long time ago. But, unfortunately, Gen. Caramat was attending to some personal problems, so we were preparing to recommend Ronald Lee to remain as CIDG Director in case Gen. wasn’t ready yet.)
Azurin further noted that an “unfortunate incident” happened to Caramat’s wife when the order about changing CIDG leadership was supposed to be issued.
“Nevertheless, we asked him if he is ready to take the position and sabi naman niya, ‘Despite sa nangyari sa misis ko, I am ready.’ So we pursued the turnover, which will happen today,” he added.
(Nevertheless, we asked him if he was ready to take the position, and he said, ‘Despite what happened to my wife, I am ready.’ So we pursued the turnover, which will happen today.)
According to Azurin, there were other movements in the PNP over the past few days.
INQUIRER.net has requested the PNP for a full list of the new designations, but it has yet to respond as of this posting.
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