Guessing game on next PNP chief continues

The guessing game continues as to who will replace the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Raul M. Bacalzo, who is set to step down on Sept. 9, six days before he officially retires at age 56.

Director General Raul M. Bacalzo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz. Jr. said “there is still no information” on Bacalzo’s successor.

“The official announcement will come from Malacañang,” he said.

Cruz said the turnover rites to welcome the next PNP chief will be held almost a full week before Bacalzo’s birthday on Sept. 15.

President Aquino earlier said he had already received a short list of candidates to choose from.

The rumored front-runner is Deputy Director General Nicanor Bartolome, the PNP’s No. 4 man and chief of the Directorial Staff.

Bartolome was made officer in charge for a week last month while Bacalzo was abroad on an official mission, fueling rumors that he would succeed Bacalzo, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1977.

The two other three-star generals, Deputy Directors General Benjamin Belarmino and Raul Castañeda, were also out of the country at the time.

But Bartolome, who belongs to the PMA Class of 1980, told reporters in August there was nothing to indicate he was next in line, and he would respect any decision the President might make.

Aside from the three deputy directors general, another name being mentioned in the rumor mill is Samuel Pagdilao Jr., director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Bacalzo, a lawyer, will have served for a year as PNP chief upon his retirement. He took over a mere three weeks after the Aug. 23, 2010 bus hostage crisis in Manila.

It was also under his term that a bus bombing occurred in Edsa, Makati, in January. A series of violent and bloody car theft cases, including those of murdered car dealers Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano, shocked Metro Manila in the same month.

Even so, the PNP under his leadership registered lower crime rates across the board, with a sharp 36 percent decline in crimes from 2009 to 2010, and similar lower figures from the first half of 2010 to the same period in 2011.

Bacalzo had also pushed for increased benefits and salaries for policemen.