PNP targets city, prov’l chiefs in next revamp

WE HAVE NO LUXURY OF TIME… IF THEY ARE DESERVING TO STAY IN OFFICE, THEN WE WILL MAKE THEM PERMANENT
Oscar Albayalde
Philippine National Police chief

Another wave of reassignments is forthcoming at the Philippine National Police following last week’s revamp that affected 29 top police officials.

Director General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, on Monday said provincial and city police directors would be given new assignments as the PNP reviews the performance of its officers.

“As I said during my inaugural speech, there will be deliberations in all levels of positions, including the regional director level, so we did that and we are still doing it. The next (revamp) will be on the provincial and city directors level,” Albayalde said at a press conference in Camp Crame.

Evaluation

He said the performance of officials who were given new positions last week would be evaluated after a month, noting the PNP was still in the process of deliberating on which police officials to put in key positions.

He clarified that the 29 officials affected by reassignments on June 1 were given officer in charge appointments which meant “they are under probation.”

“We are determining if we put the right person in the right position, that is why they are on temporary status. (They are) under probation for one month and after [a] month we will deliberate on their performance,” Albayalde said.

“We have no luxury of time; we cannot wait for their 100th day in office. After one month [we will deliberate on their performance]. If they are deserving to stay in office, then we will make them permanent,” he added.

Command decision

Albayalde said the revamp was a “command decision.”

“It’s a collective effort; it’s a collective decision. It’s not my decision,” he said, referring to the PNP oversight committee led by the deputy chief for operations.

The committee’s members include heads of the PNP directorate for investigation and detective management, the directorate for operations, the directorate for police community relations and the directorate for intelligence.

Albayalde said the major revamp of 29 police officials was due to the expected retirement this month of three deputy director generals (military counterpart: lieutenant general) and three police directors (major general) as well as regional directors who have been serving for two years.

The latest reorganization affected officials serving in key offices at the PNP headquarters, including the regional police offices in Metro Manila (National Capital Region), Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) and the Cordillera.