Torre moving to MMDA brings ‘clarity’ to PNP issues
Former Philippine National Police chief Nicolas Torre III on Friday took his oath as the new general manager of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
Executive Sec. Ralph Recto administered Torre’s oath of office in his office at Malacañang Palace.
First announced by President Marcos on Dec. 20, Torre succeeded Procopio Lipana.
Prior to the appointment, Torre served as head of the PNP from May 29 to Aug. 26, but was relieved after he defied an order by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) reversing his reassignment of lieutenant generals Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. and Bernard Banac.
Nartatez then eventually replaced Torre as acting PNP chief.
The Napolcom on Friday lauded Torre’s oathtaking as MMDA general manager, according to Napolcom commissioner and executive Rafael Calinisan.
Calinisan said Torre’s oathtaking “is a very welcome development” as this paves the way for Nartatez, Jr. to get “his well-deserved four-star rank,” which accompanies his original appointment as PNP chief.
“With the appointment of Torre to the MMDA, and his acceptance of the post, he has ipso facto resigned from the police force,” said Calinisan, with whom Torre has an ongoing dispute.
Most senior official
Torre, who has served as PNP chief and is not due for retirement until 2027, is one of the most senior PNP officials but has purportedly blocked Nartatez’s appointment as PNP chief. Nartatez had been the “acting” PNP chief.
“This provides that much-needed clarity in the PNP,” said Calinisan, who has also backed other Napolcom officials who relieved Torre as PNP chief when he insisted on reassigning Nartatez and Lt. Gen. Bernard Banac.
Nartatez eventually replaced Torre as leader of the PNP, but President Marcos himself declined to intervene in Torre’s favor and let the Napolcom prevail in the matter.
“[Torre] really doesn’t get along with Napolcom,” Mr. Marcos said in September.
“I said, ‘No, there’s a chain of command. That’s the civilian authority. You can’t just refuse that.’ But he said, ‘I really can’t do it,’” the chief executive recalled.
Torre was appointed as PNP chief after leading the arrests of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his spiritual adviser, televangelist Apollo Quiboloy.
During his stint as Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief, Torre led Duterte’s arrest, who was then flown off to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands last March 11 over alleged crimes against humanity over his war on drugs.
Months earlier, when Torre was Davao regional police chief, he led the operation to arrest Quiboloy in his hideout in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound after a 16-day standoff.
Quiboloy is accused of sexually abusing minors and qualified trafficking, an allegation his camp vehemently denied.
