PNP chief: We stood up to a bully who ran away

MAN OF THE HOUR Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III finds himself an instant celebrity as fellow VIP guests ask him for selfies shortly before President Marcos delivered his State of the Nation Address (Sona) at the Batasang Pambansa complex on Monday. Mr. Marcos also made special mention of Torre in his Sona, jokingly referring to him as the country’s newest sports icon, an apparent reference to the PNP chief’s boxing match the day before with acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte. Torre was declared the winner by default as Duterte, who was in Singapore, did not show up. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

“We stood up to the bully, but the bully ran away,” Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said on Monday of his decision to accept the challenge to a fistfight thrown at him by acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte.

“I responded to him because our fellow citizens’ humanity is being taken away. That’s not allowed. Being in power does not give you the right to bully people with less power,” Torre said in a briefing at Camp Crame.

The day before, he was declared the winner by default of the boxing match, which he had turned into a charity event to raise funds for typhoon victims. Duterte was a no-show, having left for Singapore on July 25, two days before the event dubbed as “Laban para sa Nasalanta” went on as scheduled at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Torre said that ticket sales hit over P300,000 while different companies donated over P16 million in cash on top of P4.2 million in rice and canned goods.

Duterte issued the challenge to Torre on his podcast on July 20, saying he could defeat him in a fistfight. The Davao official has been critical of the PNP chief who, as head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, arrested his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, on March 11. Before that, Torre also led the search for and capture of their family’s close ally, Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Apollo Quiboloy, as Davao regional police chief, in September 2024.

In another podcast, the younger Duterte said he “had been waiting to beat up a monkey.”

Dark skin

“Is it because I have dark skin? We’re all Filipinos. There are many Filipinos like me who have dark skin. So, are we all monkeys?” Torre said in Monday’s press briefing.

After the boxing event, Duterte posted on social media that he had a travel authority filed on July 20, which was approved by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“I’m not aware of that travel document,” Torre said when asked by reporters. “But saying that … that wasn’t the condition he gave when we first invited him to participate in a charity boxing match.”

“The first thing he said was he wanted all government officials to take a drug test. Obviously, the travel documents are an afterthought, aren’t they?” he added.