Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Saturday said he will submit to President Duterte the shortlist of candidates for the Philippine National Police's (PNP) top post in the last week of August.
Current PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa is due to retire on September 2, 2020.
When pressed to identify the contenders, Año declined saying that only Malacañang can disclose who the candidates are.
“I cannot announce it. It has to be confidential and only Malacañang can decide to announce the names of the contenders,’’ Año said.
Año revealed the President will pick among three to five names to decide Gamboa’s successor.
Among the possible contenders for PNP chief are Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan, deputy chief for administration and head of the Administrative Support to Covid-19 Operations Task Force (ASCOTF); Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, deputy chief for operations and commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield and Lt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, chief of the PNP directorial staff.
Cascolan, a batchmate of Gamboa in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1986 will retire in November when he turns 56 years old.
Meanwhile, Binag and Eleazar, who both belong to PMA Class 1987 will retire in April and November 2021 respectively.
Gamboa declined to comment on his possible successor stressing he is focused on his present role as PNP chief.
Año noted that all star-rank PNP officers can be considered for the top PNP post.
Explaining further, Año said that even one star PNP generals can be appointed as PNP chief depending on the choice of the President.