The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday formally installed Police Colonel Ysmael Salonga Yu as its spokesperson and acting chief of its Public Information Office (PIO).
A member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) "Tanglaw" Diwa Class of 1992, Yu serves as the official spokesperson and publicist of the PNP on matters involving internal security, general peace and order, and its accomplishments.
Yu’s appointment comes at a time when the PNP is at the frontline of the crucial fight to address the COVID-19 pandemic, and to communicate to the public the organization's on-going campaign against illegal drugs, criminality, and corruption in the remaining two years of President Duterte's term.
Yu becomes a Personal Staff Officer of the Chief PNP. He also serves as Chief of the Public Information Office, the lead implementor of the PNP’s media relations policy at the National Headquarters level.
Yu replaced Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac, who was designated as the new director of the PNP Training Service.
Before his assignment to the National Headquarters, Yu served as the deputy regional director for operations of the Ilocos Police Regional Office (PRO-1) since October 2019.
He obtained his Master in Public Management degree from the Development Academy of the Philippines in 2017.
He also underwent various trainings and programs such as counter-terrorism management course, criminal undercover operation course, police intelligence advance course, finance officer basic course, supervisory development course, and Special Forces operations course among others.
Yu was erstwhile chief of Special Service Unit of Headquarters Support Service (HSU-SSU) in Camp Crame and Chief of Finance Service Office 1 and 3 in 2017.
In 2012, he was assigned to be a company commander of the Bulacan Mobile Force Battalion Company. He also became a senior executive assistant at the Office of the Deputy Chief for Operations in 2019.