President Aquino's plans and calculations about when to appoint a director general of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has a parallel with the scenario of appointing the next chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) when General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. retires past the middle of this year.
Catapang, like PNP Officer-in Charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, will be reaching his mandatory retirement age of 56 this July.
Philippine Air Force (PAF) chief Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado is reportedly on top of Aquino's choices. Aquino's second choice, sources say, is Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) Major General Ricardo Visaya.
Asked to confirm that he "begged off" to give way to Army chief Lt. Gen. Hernando Irriberi for the chief of staff position, Delgado denied "the rumor" in a recent interview with Interaksyon.com during the Alumni Homecoming last March at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Fort del Pilar, Baguio City.
"Beg off? Not true," Delgado said, without giving any further comment. He did point out that he will "cross the bridge" when he gets there.
Irriberi is also a contender for the top military position, but Delgado and Visaya, who both had opportunities to work personally and professionally with Aquino, is perceived to have the advantage over him.
Delgado was the former close-in security man of TV host Kris Aquino, the President's sister. Visaya, on the other hand, became the "trouble shooter" of Aquino.
Both Visaya and Irriberi are members of the PMA "Matikas" Class 1983.
Delgado belongs to the PMA "Sandigan" Class 1982.
"Jeff (Delgado) and Bong (Visaya) undeniably have the full trust and confidence of the President," said a senior officer, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak about the matter.
Irriberi, however, is close to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who had been touted tangentially, as being the so-called "Board of Gazmin" that actually refers names of candidates to the Board of Generals (BOG) which is the screening and recommending authority to the Commander-in-Chief.
On Thursday, Aquino said he is not keen about accept the resignation of Espina as PNP-OIC.
Espina submitted his resignation even before his promotion to the position of Deputy Chief of Administration from his former position as Deputy Chief of Operations.
Espina is now second-highest officer in the PNP, the top position of which remains vacant after the suspension in December 2014 (and then resignation in February 2015) of former PNP director general Alan Purisima in the wake of the deadly Mamasapano mission that killed 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) on January 25.
Aquino hinted he might appoint the next PNP chief on or before December 2015, a month or so after the mandatory retirement of Purisima in November.
Because of this, Purisima continues to hold the four-star general rank despite his resignation from the position of PNP chief, and only early retirement will leave a vacuum in that position.
Only one other officer is holds the four-star general rank both in the AFP and PNP.
But according to retired police general-turned Antipolo Representative Romeo Acop, he believes Aquino had already made a choice as to who to appoint PNP chief.
That would be Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, who once belonged the Presidential Security Group that guarded the then First Family of the late former president Corazon Aquino through several coup attempts in the past.
"I think the President would really look for somebody he could trust. According to information, that person could be Chief Supt. Petrasanta. I understand the Aquino family owes some debts of gratitude to the police officer," Acop said.
"This could be why the appointment of the next PNP chief might come in July or August because by then, the suspension of Chief Supt. Petrasanta would be lifted," he added.
Petrasanta, a member of the PMA "Maharlika" Class 1984, stepped down as regional director of the Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3), after the Office of the Ombudsman ordered him suspended for 6 months over an anomalous contract and for the alleged sale of high-powered firearms to communist insurgents.
He was chief of the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division when more than 1,000 AK47 assault rifles were discovered missing.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/109053/three-cornered-joust-for-afp-top-post
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