Big questions on Torre’s ouster
What a waste. One of the few bright lights in the ruling administration has been unceremoniously kicked out. The whiff of fresh air from the stale-air stable of politicians in the Marcos administration has been disgracefully booted out in full public display.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III was sacked by President Marcos last Monday and immediately replaced by Police Lt. Gen. Melencio Nartatez Jr. The cause of the removal was apparently a turf war. Torre reshuffled the top-ranking officers of the police force—from colonels to generals—including the transfer of Nartatez from being the PNP’s No. 2 cop to Western Mindanao police commander.
The National Police Commission, an attached agency of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, headed by Secretary Jonvic Remulla, issued a resolution voiding the reshuffle and ordered the reinstatement of Nartatez as the PNP’s second in command. The Napolcom justified its resolution by declaring that the reassignments didn’t go through its review. According to reports, Torre defied the Napolcom order by presenting another police general, Lt. Gen. Bernard Banac, as his second in command, instead of Nartatez, during a flag ceremony. This then impelled Napolcom, through Remulla, to go to Malacañang and obtain the President’s directive to swiftly remove Torre as PNP chief.
A reading of the laws governing the Napolcom (Republic Act No. 6975 as amended by RA 8551) does not show that Napolcom possesses the power to review and overturn the PNP chief’s assignment of police generals to top brass positions, as claimed by the agency. The powers of Napolcom are primarily for “policy and program coordination” and administrative disciplinary proceedings against erring police officers. Its “administrative control and operational supervision” over the PNP are clearly for the limited purpose of developing policies and promulgating rules and regulations,” which do not include the power to review and reverse designation or transfer of officers made by the PNP chief to high-ranking positions occupied by colonels to generals, contrary to Napolcom’s claim.
The Napolcom resolutions voiding the assignments made by Torre are the ones whose validity is questionable. With the absence of specific powers clearly bestowed on Napolcom to review the assignments of officers, it was Napolcom that went beyond its powers, in violation of the laws creating it and defining its authority vis-a-vis that of the PNP chief.
However, the President’s decision to remove Torre as PNP chief is valid because the President has absolute discretion to appoint and remove the PNP chief. But there are big and gnawing questions: Was the President misled into believing that Napolcom possesses the power to review and overturn the PNP chief’s designation of top officers, and that Torre blatantly violated the agency’s exercise of its powers? Did Napolcom overturn Torre’s reassignment of officers upon direct orders of the President?
There are more questions that the parties to the controversy have refused to comment on so far. It is obvious that the central cause of the turf war was Nartatez, the new PNP chief. Why was Torre so opposed to having Nartatez as his second in command that he had to reassign him from the PNP headquarters to a provincial post in Mindanao? What’s the overpowering reason why Torre had to defy the wishes of his immediate superior, Remulla? On the other hand, why was Remulla so bent on having Nartatez occupy the No. 2 post of the PNP? Was it merely a matter of “pataasan ng ihi” between two emotionally immature men?
What overriding national interest was at stake that Remulla had to insist that Nartatez be the PNP’s second in command? What very deep and irreconcilable reasons are responsible for the messy war between the two public officials?
This ruckus has seriously damaged the image of the Marcos administration, and the President deserves complete blame for the scandal. He could have firmly talked to Torre and made it clear to him that the decision to have Nartatez as the PNP’s second in command was his own, and that Torre must follow his commander in chief. The turf war between Remulla and Torre had been simmering for several days prior to the dismissal of Torre, and the President had ample time to talk sense to his two underlings.
The biggest question that now hounds the Marcos administration is this: Why is a high-performing, ultra-loyal, and goodwill-churning police chief unceremoniously booted out, while a scandal-ridden public works secretary—who’s bringing so much scandal and humiliation to the current administration—still serves as the alter ego of the President?
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