7 eyed as Purisima’s replacement

MANILA, Philippines - At least seven senior officials are being eyed to replace Director General Alan Purisima, who resigned as chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) amid the controversial Mamasapano encounter that led to the deaths of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos on Jan. 25.

The seven are PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina; Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo Jr., and Directors Carmelo Valmoria, Ricardo Marquez, Benjamin Magalong, Danny Constantino and Juanito Vaño.

President Aquino had earlier announced that he would sit down with Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II to choose Purisima’s replacement.

There is still no word from Malacañang on the President’s choice.

A retired police general, who asked not to be named, said the President should be guided by loyalty, integrity and reputation of the candidates in choosing Purisima’s replacement.

He said Aquino should add to the criteria the accomplishments of the candidate in his years in the police service.

Espina improved his stock with his defense of the SAF commandos tasked to get top Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, during congressional hearings on the Mamasapano incident.

Apart from being the acting P NP chief, Espina is concurrent head of administration and operations.

Garbo is the chief of the directorial staff while Valmoria heads the National Capital Region Police Office. Marquez is chief of the Directorate for Operation. Magalong  heads the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group; Constantino, the Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development, and Vaño, the Directorate for Logistics.

Espina and Garbo are classmates of Purisima at the Philippine Military Academy Class ’81. Valmoria, Marquez, Magalong and Constantino belong to PMA Class ’82 while Vaño is a member of Class ’83.

Espina and Valmoria are set to retire in July this year. Garbo will retire in March next year and the rest after the May 2016 general elections.

The talk is that a police official retiring after the 2016 polls would get the nod of the President.

Should Aquino allow Espina to serve as permanent PNP chief, it would mean that Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta – a close friend of the Chief Executive like Purisima – would be a shoo-in to replace him.

But Petrasanta, former chief of the PNP’s Firearms and Explosives Office, along with Purisima and 10 other police officials were ordered suspended for six months without pay by the ombudsman over an anomalous contract with a courier firm for the delivery of gun owners’ licenses.

Petrasanta is facing a six-month preventive suspension in connection with the disappearance of 1,004 units of AK-47 assault rifle that were allegedly sold to New People’s Army rebels.

Under the PNP law, the President can appoint a senior police official, even with the rank of senior superintendent or full colonel, to the top police post.