Aglipay to go into farming upon retirement

Director General Edgar Aglipay, who barely has five months left in his extended term as chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has no plans to run for public office when he retires from the force next year.

Aglipay said he is looking forward to retiring to his hometown of Camalaniugan, Cagayan, and going into farming.

"I told my wife that I will be a gentleman farmer in Cagayan after my retirement. And she is very happy that I will be with her and she will be with me. God willing, I will be a gentleman farmer," he told the Manila Overseas Press Club’s "PNP Night" at Dusit Hotel in Makati City on Friday.

Aglipay’s six-month term extension expires on March 13.

"It’s the girls in the family who are politicians. Maybe I will just be helping them. I am not a politician. I am more of an appointive official, not an elected one," he told the forum.

Aglipay’s sister is the mayor of Camalanuigan. He told the forum that two of his daughters are considering running for local posts after finishing their advance studies.

Asked if he would accept a Cabinet appointment from President Arroyo, Aglipay replied he "will cross the bridge when we get there."

Aglipay’s predecessor, Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., became Mrs. Arroyo’s national security adviser after his retirement earlier this year. Ebdane, too, said he planned to turn into farming in his home province of Pangasinan upon retirement.

As with his predecessors, Aglipay’s foremost goal is to professionalize the 115,000-strong force and rid it of rogue officers.

On that subject, Aglipay was particularly grilled by STAR publisher and MOPC chairman Max Soliven over Aglipay’s defending police Director Eduardo Matillano, now under investigation for allegedly using a Jaguar sports car and yacht seized by police from suspected drug lord Jackson Dy in Tanza, Cavite last year.

Matillano, who is being investigated by the PNP Internal Affairs Service, will be held liable if he indeed violated custody regulations on properties seized from crime suspects, Aglipay said.