Pressure mounts on PNP chief Bartolome to retire early

Director General Nicanor Bartolome: Pressured. Photo by Matikas Santos/INQUIRER.net

Pressure appears to be mounting for Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome to retire early.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas on Tuesday suggested that President Aquino would prefer an earlier turnover in the PNP leadership because of the timing of Bartolome’s retirement, which will fall right in the middle of the campaign for next May’s elections.

“The President himself has said that he is looking forward to an early or an earlier turnover,” Roxas told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo on the sidelines of the 21st Anniversary of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), an agency under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Bartolome will reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 in March.

Roxas also said that he had designated Director Alan Purisima, chief of the Directorate Staff, to head a task force being organized to oversee the peace and order situation during the elections.

“This early, whatever preparations would be for the elections, there is a designated representative [who] would be around even after the retirement of the current leadership,” he said.

Roxas’ statement strongly suggested that Purisima, long considered a frontrunner in the race to succeed Bartolome, might just get the coveted assignment.