Purisima stars pose dilemma for Aquino, PNP

MANILA, Philippines—The four stars on Director General Alan Purisima’s shoulder board seem to put his friend, President Benigno Aquino III, and the rest of the Philippine National Police in a quandary.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte on Friday said the Palace legal team continues to study the legalities of appointing Purisima’s replacement even after President Aquino had interviewed two possible contenders for the post of PNP chief.

“The intricacy that the President is already aware of—and in fact it’s being studied—is that the former chief of the PNP resigned from being chief but he did not resign from the service, such that he retains the rank of four-star and there can only be one four-star general at any given time in the PNP. That’s why that particular issue is also being studied by the President’s legal team,” Valte said at the regular Palace briefing.

In an earlier interview, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the President had begun screening Purisima’s potential successors and had interviewed PNP officer in charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina and Deputy General Marcelo Garbo Jr., chief of the PNP directorial staff.

Valte said that “normally,” the appointee is “elevated to the position and to the rank, especially in the PNP.”

But the issue now, she said, was that the “position is vacant, but the rank is not.”

“The President has asked a long time ago that this be looked into. And remember that the former chief of the PNP is retiring in November this year. So, yes, that is an issue that is being studied already. The President is quite aware of the urgencies of appointing a PNP chief,” Valte said.

Asked if the President would ask Purisima to consider early retirement, Valte said: “I would not have information on that.”

Purisima was forced to resign as PNP chief after it was revealed that sacked Special Action Force Director Getulio Napeñas directly reported to him before and during the police operation against Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan,” when Purisima was already serving out a suspension order from the Office of the Ombudsman.