Aquino urged anew to appoint acting PNP chief

PNP Chief Alan Purisima. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—An allied senator reiterated her call for President Benigno Aquino III to appoint an acting Philippine National   Police (PNP) chief to take the place of suspended Director General Alan Purisima.

“While I concede that DG Purisima may seek legal recourse to stay the executory preventive suspension, it will serve the PNP organization and the public well if an acting PNP chief, not just an (officer in charge), be installed by the President (as soon as possible) pending any (temporary restraining order) which issuance in any case may take a long time,” Poe said in a text message Monday.

“(In the) meantime, public interest is much higher than Purisima’s own,”   the senator added.

Poe was reacting to Purisima’s reported plan to ask the Court of Appeals to issue a TRO against the Ombudsman’s decision to impose a six-month preventive suspension on him.

Purisima and several other police officers were ordered suspended for their alleged involvement in an anomalous PNP contract with a courier service for the delivery of gun licenses.

Poe, who heads the Senate committee on public order and   dangerous drug that looked into Purisima’s allegedly   unexplained   wealth, earlier suggested   that the PNP chief should take a leave amid allegations being thrown at him.

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