Netizens easily recognize National Capital Region Police Office chief Police Major Gen. Debold Sinas as the “mañanita general” who became one of the poster boys of alleged double standard in the implementation of quarantine rules.
But who is Sinas really?
A native of Butuan City where he was born in May 1965, Sinas is a member of the Hinirang Class of 1987 of the Philippine Military Academy, an institution he was forced to enter due to the pressure of his father.
Sinas got his first star or became a police brigadier general while assigned to the Office of the Chief of the Directorial Staff in Camp Crame in Quezon City in April 2017.
He first served as director of the Philippine National Police-Crime Laboratory before he was appointed as the regional director of the Police Regional Office 7 (Central Visayas).
Sinas was appointed as NCRPO chief by then PNP chief Police Gen. Archie Gamboa in October last year.
Sinas earned his second star or police major general while serving the NCRPO.
His summary of information as PNP officer has six pages for the awards and citations he received, including being adjudged as the Best Police Commissioned Officer in 2014 when he was assigned to then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the most recent was the Authority to Wear Handgun Marskmanship Badge.
Sinas has Masters degree in Management from the Philippine Christian University in Manila. He speaks Chavacano and Cebuano.
Last May, Sinas was entangled in a controversy after his staff uploaded photos of his birth anniversary celebration at the NCRPO website and Viber group with reporters.
During that time, Metro Manila and most parts of the country were under the Enhanced Community Quarantine in which mass gatherings were strictly prohibited.
Sinas defended his birth anniversary, saying it was a traditional birth anniversary serenade for police and military officers called “mañanita”in which subordinates would greet their commander and later enjoy an early breakfast feast.
Duterte defended Sinas and said that he should not be held responsible but Sinas and other ranking officers of the NCRPO were ordered investigated for the event.
While the police regional director of Central Visayas from July 2018 to October 2019, a local official of the Commission on Human Rights said that the number of drug war-related killings increased under the term of Sinas.
These include the spate of killings in June and July last year in Negros Oriental following the death of four policemen who were allegedly executed by communist rebels.
Sinas denied the allegation of extra-judicial killings.
He, along with now Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office General Manager Royina Garma who was then Cebu City police chief, was accused of working hard to ensure that Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmena would not be re-elected.
Duterte in 2018 lashed out at Osmeña for not cooperating with the campaign against illegal drugs in Cebu City.
However, Sinas was praised for his all-out support to female members of the PNP.
Sinas facilitated the creation of the first-ever all-female police station in Maria, Siquijor when he was still the director of the Central Visayas police.
He also helped install the first lady chief of police of a city in Metro Manila, Police Col. Angela Rejano, in Malabon City.
Rejano conceptualized the all-female police station in Maria, Siquijor when she was the chief of the Siquijor Police Provincial Office.
Read more: Duterte names Sinas to top PNP post