President Duterte has tasked Eduardo Año to head the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as its officer in charge, replacing Catalino Cuy who was named chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB).
Año’s rank will remain as undersecretary because the law bars him from being designated its secretary for a year following his retirement as Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff.
Cuy, who used to be the DILG OIC, takes over the DDB from Dionisio Santiago, who resigned last November upon the directive of the President, who was irked over Santiago’s remarks that the government’s 10,000-bed drug rehabilitation facility in Nueva Ecija was “a mistake” because of its impracticality.
Cuy was also designated as permanent member of the DDB board with a term expiring on July 4, 2018.
As DILG OIC, Año will have supervision over the country’s police force.
When the President announced his plan to put Año at the DILG in May last year, he said he needed somebody from the military at the department because of problems with the police.
At that time, Mr. Duterte took note of a report about police officers involved in kidnapping.
After being taken out of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs twice, the Philippine National Police remains a player in the campaign, but it has lost the lead role to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Cuy considers his new post as a “new challenge,” especially after his two immediate predecessors—Santiago and Benjamin Reyes—did not stay long at DDB.
The President removed Reyes in May last year for claiming there were only 1.8 million drug addicts and pushers in the country, much lower than the administration’s higher estimate.
Cuy took over as DILG OIC after Mr. Duterte fired Secretary Ismael Sueno in April over corruption allegations. —WITH A REPORT FROM JEANETTE I. ANDRADE