Outgoing national police chief Gen. Debold M. Sinas urged all the personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to show the same 100 percent support that he enjoyed to his successor and mistah, PLt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar who is set to replace him on Friday, May 7.
“I urge you to give my classmate, Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Lorenzo T Eleazar, the same 100 percent support you gave during the past six months under my watch,” said Sinas in a statement.
“Every Chief PNP appointed to the post carries with him the full trust and confidence of the President of the Republic of the Philippines, therefore, he deserves the unqualified support of all the officers and personnel under his command,” he added.
Sinas, who assumed the PNP leadership in November last year, is set to bow out of the police service on May 8 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56.
His retirement, however, was made one day earlier in a change of command ceremony that will be presided by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año at 2 p.m. on Friday.
Both Sinas and Eleazar are members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1987.
As he prepares for his retirement, Sinas expressed belief that he delivered more than what the Filipino expected of him.
“It has been probably the longest six months tour of duty we have served together to accomplish our mission for the Filipino people. And I honestly believe we have been able to deliver more than what we promised to the President and the Filipino people, because everyone stood by me, from the ranking officers in the headquarters to the last beat patroller in the streets," said Sinas.
The retirement of Sinas would also result in the major revamp in the PNP Command Group, or the top four highest position in the PNP.
Police Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz will take over the post that would be vacated by Eleazar, as the deputy chief for Administration while Police Lt. Gen. Israel Ephraim Dickson will be the new deputy chif for Operations, or the number three man of the PNP.
The number four man of the PNP, or the Chief Directorial Staff, is yet to be named.