Police Lt. Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan will serve as officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP) upon the retirement of Gen. Archie Gamboa on Wednesday, Malacañang said Tuesday.
Roque announced the designation of Cascolan after deferring the announcement of a new police chief during a Palace press conference. Cascolan is currently Deputy Chief for Administration of the PNP, the second-highest post in the police organization.
Roque admitted that he was supposed to announce the new police chief Tuesday but was asked to defer the announcement.
"Kagabi po sinabi sa akin na dapat i-announce ko na pero binawi ‘no so hindi ko pa po maa-announce ngayon. Pero mayroon na pong pangalan na initially binigay pero I was given instruction na i-hold muna po ang pag-announce (Last night, I was told to announce but it was withdrawn so I cannot announce it yet. But there is already a name initially given but I was given instruction to hold the announcement)” Roque said during televised news conference.
"But what we can announce is tungkol sa retirement po ni General Gamboa, I’m sure na magiging OIC pa lang po ay si General Cascolan (But what we can announce once General Gamboa retires, I'm sure General Cascolan will be the OIC)," he added.
Cascolan, a member of Philippine Military Academy class of 1986, is reportedly among the police officials recommended to replace Gamboa. Other reported contenders are Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, Deputy Chief for Operations as well as Lt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, chief of the Directorial Staff.
Gamboa, who took his oath as police chief in January 2020, will reach the mandatory age of 56 on September 2.
Known by his nickname "Pikoy," Cascolan is also a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1986, to which his two predecessors, Police Generals Gamboa and (now Senator) Ronald de la Rosa also belonged.
A native of Baguio City, he is a product of the Maryknoll Convent School and the University of the Philippines Baguio High School.
As a fresh PMA graduate, he was assigned in Parang, Maguindanao, an erstwhile battleground that had witnessed many encounters between the government and the Moro secessionist groups.
Cascolan spent almost all his junior and middle rank years in Western Visayas where he occupied various posts, starting as a member of the now defunct Philippine Constabulary in Iloilo in 1988, and to being the chief of police of the Balasan Police Station in Iloilo in 1998.
He was assigned to the PNP Headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City in 1999 as head of the Special Research Division of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, a position he held until January 2001.
He held various assignments that include chief of police of Taguig City, provincial director of the then Compostela Valley Province, and the number two man of Western Visayas regional police wherein he earned his first star.
He was named PNP Director for Operations and later became Director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) starting in April, 2018, where he conceptualized assigning policemen near their residence to make them more effective.
He initiated the implementation of the eight-hour work for policemen, saying that Metro Manila policemen would do their job well if they are well-rested.
As a senior police official, he supervised the transfer of the PNP Academy and other training programs for new policemen from the Philippine Public Safety College to the PNP.
He is also the proponent of the Camp Crame Development Plan which involves the decentralization of some offices within Camp Crame in Quezon City to the provinces.
As the head of the Directorate for Operations, Cascolan crafted the memorandum circular Double Barrel of the anti-drugs campaign Oplan Tokhang. He also conceptualized the Enhanced Managing Police Operations, an operational strategy against criminality, terrorism, and internal security with an emphasis on home defense security concept.
Cascolan is also credited for the creation of the E-WPIS, or the Wanted Person Information System and the e-rogue which gives police officers access to the profile of criminal elements online.
Cascolan earned his master’s degree in Public Management at the UP Visayas. He is a recipient of various awards that include Award for Continuing Excellence and Service (ACES) in 2019 and the Country’s Outstanding Police in Service (COPS) in 2015, both from the Metrobank Foundation.