NCRPO officials reshuffled today?

MANILA, Philippines - There will be new faces at the helm of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and its five police districts starting today, sources said yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, whose last assignment is as deputy of the Directorate for Plans, will replace NCRPO chief Director Joel Pagdilao, a Camp Crame source told The STAR.

Albayalde belongs to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class ’86, and is a classmate of Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Superintendent Ronald de la Rosa, who will also assume his post today.

De la Rosa said yesterday he will only announce the names of the PNP’s new regional directors today before President Duterte presides over his first command conference with PNP officials.

He had vowed a top-to-bottom revamp of the PNP as soon as he takes over the PNP. Reports had it that 15 of the 18 regional directors will be replaced as De la Rosa needs commanders who are committed to executing Duterte’s policy to address the proliferation of illegal drugs within the first three to six months of his administration.

Dela Rosa also said he has a list of rogue police officers involved in criminal activities and vowed to conduct an internal cleansing of the PNP.

The incoming chiefs of Metro Manila’s five police districts are – barring last-minute changes – Senior Superintendents Jiggs Coronel (Manila Police District), Roberto Fajardo (Northern Police District), Guillermo Eleazar (Quezon City Police District), Tomas Apolinario (Southern Police District or SPD) and Romulo Sapitula (Eastern Police District), the source said.

Fajardo is the chief of the Anti-Kidnapping Group and Eleazar is the head of the Anti-Cyber Crime Group.

Apolinario is the SPD’s deputy district director for administration while Sapitula is an executive officer of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations while Coronel is on floating status at Camp Crame.

Fajardo, Coronel, Eleazar, and Apolinario belong to PMA Class ’87 and Sapitula to the Philippine National Police Academy Class ’86.

The new head of the PNP’s Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, Chief Superintendent Fernando Mendez, is set to issue today assumption orders for Albayalde and the five district directors, the source said.

There is no word as yet where Pagdilao and the five district directors under him would be reassigned, the source added. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe