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Who will be the next CIDG, SAF directors?

WHILE I was writing this piece, noted diplomat, lawyer, politician and former journalist Teodoro ‘Teddy Boy’ Locsin has accepted President Duterte’s offer to become the next secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs replacing Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano who is running for a congressional seat anew.

This means that my friend, PNP chief, General Oscar Albayalde won’t replace Cayetano at the DFA as briefly mentioned by the President when he met Philippine Military Academy graduates in Malacañang last week. As I have said before, Gen. Albayalde would be only retiring from the service on November 8 next year, the 22nd PNP chief actually would be marking his 55th birthday only next month.

Right now, he is busy leading the PNP’s ongoing campaign against crime and corruption as well as its effort to keep the forthcoming 2019 mid-term elections as honest and as peaceful as possible.  Another thing that would keep him busy is finding the successors of several premier PNP units whose heads will be retiring days or weeks from now. They include at least 11 key PNP positions which will be vacated before the year-end with the retirement of their directors.

Add to it the consultations he has to do with the powerful PNP Oversight Committee when it comes to changing police officials in the regions, provinces and cities and municipalities who are non-performing, those who will reach their 2nd-year in office and most importantly, those with relatives up to the 3rd degree of consanguinity who are gunning for different elective posts in their jurisdiction.

Speaking of premier PNP units whose directors will be retiring days from now, two of them are the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the elite PNP Special Action Force headed by my friends, Directors Roel Obusan, a classmate of Gen. Albayalde from PMA ‘Sinagtala’ Class of 1986 and Noli Taliño of PMA ‘Maharlika’ Class of 1984.

Obusan, a lawyer and seasoned police investigator and graftbuster will be retiring from the police force this coming November 20, having served the former Philippine Constabulary and the PNP with distinction for over 36 years.  Same with Taliño, a former Central Visayas police director who will be bowing out of the force on his 56th birthday this coming January 14.

Thus, Gen. Albayalde and his Oversight Committee would be responsible for designating a new PNP-CIDG director who will be in-charge of the PNP’s premier investigating unit tasked to arrest and send to jail terrorists and big-time criminals including drug lords and other economic saboteurs.

Many of my sources said that being groomed to replace Obusan is another PMA Class 1986 member, my friend Chief Superintendent Amador Corpus, currently the Police Regional Office 3 director in Central Luzon. Corpus will be retiring on October 3, 2020, meaning he is more than qualified for promotion to the next higher rank, that of a Police Director should he really is chosen to replace Obusan.

However, other officials highly qualified to be the next CIDG director are the following: Director Eric Velasquez, a lawyer from PMA ‘Sandiwa’ Class of 1985; two other members of PMA Class 1986 who are also lawyers, Directors Elmo Sarona of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management and Edwin Roque of the Directorate for Plans; as well as Chief Supts. Roberto ‘Bong’ Fajardo’ and Jigs Coronel, both of PMA ‘Hinirang’ Class of 1987.

Velasquez, currently the director of the PNP Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Southern Luzon, Sarona,  Fajardo, currently the Highway Patrol Group director and Coronel, the no. 2 official of the National Capital Region Police Office were all previously assigned to the CIDG during their much younger years. Velasquez, Fajardo and Coronel used to head the CIDG National Capital Region Office which obviously is the busiest CIDG unit in the country. Fajardo and Coronel are also qualified for promotion to the rank of Police Director since they still have over a year to go before retiring: Fajardo on September 18, 2020 and Coronel on February 11, 2021.

On the other hand, the names of former SAF commandos have been mentioned as possible qualified candidates to become the next SAF director. They include Directors Rolando Felix, Edwin Roque, Ma-o Aplasca and Cesar Binag as well as Chief Supts. Ted Carranza, Clift Empiso, Alfred Corpus and Coronel.Carranza, Empiso, Corpus and Coronel are more than qualified for promotion to the next higher rank. Carranza will retire on April 11, 2020; Empiso on February 6, 2021; Corpus on September 15, 2021; and Coronel  Felix, a member of PMA Class 1985 is currently the DIPO-Visayas director; Roque is with the DPL; Aplasca of PMA Class 1987 is the PNP Director for Operations while his mistah Binag is the PNP Director for Information Communications and Technology Management.

Carranza, another member of PMA Class 1986 is currently the PRO4-A director in Calabarzon region while Empiso, the NCRPO Deputy Regional Director for Operations; Corpus, a no-nonsense officer who really deserves another position after serving as Eastern Police Director for several days only early this year, and Coronel are all from PMA Class 1987.

These eight officials are SAF oldtimers just like Gen. Albayalde who can easily command the respect of our ‘Tagaligtas,’ the only mechanized fighting unit in the PNP whose men are highly-trained to battle terrorists, criminals and other Enemies of the State.  May the best man win!