After graduating from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1992, the young officer Bernard M. Banac decided to join the elite force of the Philippine National Police (PNP) where he learned the realities of combat operations and administration in dealing with insurgents and terrorists especially in Mindanao.
On Monday, Nov. 20, and now a Police Major General, Banac will return as its highest official after he was named as the director of the Special Action Force (SAF) in the latest revamp of senior officers in the police organization.
Police Maj. Gen. Bernard M. Banac
Banac will replace Police Maj. Gen. Rudolph Dimas who was named as the new head of the Directorate Plans.
The position as the head of the Directorate for Information and Communications Technology Management (DICTM) that Banac would vacate, on the other hand, will be taken over by Police Brig. Gen. Neil Alinsañgan.
For those who personally know Banac during his stint as SAF, expectations are certainly high since it was his experience in the conflict zones of Mindanao that prompted him to help the establishment of another elite force within the SAF, the Reconnaissance Unit.
He assumed several positions when he left the SAF in 1996, including as an aide to then Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Robert Barbers.
A soft spoken and would always have a smiling face, Banac also served as the police provincial director of Sorsogon Police Provincial Office and later named as the chief of the PNP-Public Information Office.
He also headed the Police Regional Office 8 in Eastern Visayas and the Directorate for Plans before he assumed the top DICTM post.
A bemedaled and one of the highly-respected officers in the PNP, Banac’s leadership style earned him a coveted slot in the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS) in 2012 of the Metrobank Foundation.
His reputation as a “thinking police general” led to his selection as one of the six members of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) Ad-Hoc Committee that is tasked to review recommendations passed during the 24th Asian Regional Conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In the same revamp, Police Brig. Gen. Lou Evangelista was named as the new director of the Police Regional Office 1 in Ilocos Region. He replaced Police Brig. Gen. John Chua who was re-assigned to the PNP Area Police Command-Visayas.
On the other hand, Police Col. Restituto Arcangel was re-assigned to Police Community Affairs and Development Group (PCADG).