Mantaring endorses 3 senior officials to ass’t director post

Nineteen days after being named to the post, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Nestor Mantaring is reportedly lobbying for another insider to fill the vacant post of assistant director.

In a one-page document sent to President Arroyo through Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Mantaring reportedly endorsed the names of three senior NBI officials to occupy the second highest post in the bureau.

The office of Gonzalez received the letter last Aug. 15.

Mantaring has recommended lawyers Alejandro Tenerife, officer-in-charge of the Office of Assistant Director; Deputy Director for Administrative Services Rickson Chiong; and Deputy Director for Special Investigation Services Victor Bessat.

Tenerife is reportedly set to retire in two months.

In his letter, Mantaring said: "Respectfully endorsed to Her Excellency, for ready reference and evaluation, in the exercise of her prerogative, for promotion to the vacant position of Director V (assistant director), an existing vacancy in the NBI plantilla of positions brought about by the promotion of Atty. Nestor Mantaring on 27 July 2006."

There are strong speculations that retired Manila police director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong is interested in the post of assistant director and would soon be joining the NBI.

Last Aug. 9, Mantaring officially took his oath as NBI director before Secretary Gonzalez.

After 10 months of running the bureau as officer-in-charge and later as acting director, he finally became the NBI’s 17th director.

He took over the helm at the NBI after Director Reynaldo Wycoco died last Dec. 19. — Evelyn Macairan