ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider The Chief PNP Contenders: The last PMA men standing

The Chief PNP Contenders: The last PMA men standing

Last part

Published May 26, 2025 02:44 pm

At A Glance

  • Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez and Police Lt. Gen. Bernard Banac are both members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1992
Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez (left) and Police Lt. Gen. Bernard Banac
Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez (left) and Police Lt. Gen. Bernard Banac

When the law that created the Philippine National Police (PNP) was enacted in 1991, one of its immediate impacts was the decision to bar graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) from entering the police force.

The last of them to enjoy the privilege of choosing the police was the Tangla-Diwa Class of 1992. Fast forward to May 2025, only seven of them were left in active service—and the honor of being the last member of the class to retire is Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez.

**media[]**

A native of Ilocos Sur, Nartatez is currently the second man of the PNP being the Deputy Chief of Administration.

And did you know that his roots trace back to Gabriela Silang, the first Filipina to lead the revolution against the Spaniards?

He was admitted to the PMA straight from high school and held several positions when he finally chose to build his career in the police force. 

The battles he fought in the jungles of Laguna and Quezon with the communist rebels and with terror groups in Basilan and other parts of the Mindanao earned him the respect of his men.

A bemedaled police officer, Nartatez served as a town police chief in Zambales and later the top cop of Laguna.

He served as the director of the Finance Service before he was appointed as director of the Police Regional Office 4A which covers the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon).

He was then named as the director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and went straight to become the PNP’s number two man, which triggered speculations that he would replace outgoing national police chief Rommel Francisco Marbil.

**media[]**

The Dark Horse?

There in the far south is Nartatez’s classmate, Police Lt. Gen. Bernard Banac, currently the commander of the Area Police Command-Western Mindanao. 

While the rest of what remains of the PMA Class 1992 were all assigned in Luzon, Banac was busy ensuring that the recently-held midterm elections, particularly in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), was peaceful and orderly—and he delivered.

Banac used to be the spokesperson of the PNP and prior to that, he served as the top cop of Sorsogon.

He started his career as a Special Action Force (SAF) company commander from 1992 to 1996. He then served as a security aide to then Interior and Local Government Secretary Robert Barbers from 1996 to 1998. 

From there, Banac started working his way up, having been assigned as the precinct commander of Greenhills Police in San Juan City and officer-in-charge of Kamuning Police Station (PS-10) of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) from 2003 to 2004; and an instructor of TABA Cops Program at SBMA, Subic Bay, Zambales from June 2004 to October 2005. 

His first international stint came in November 2005 when he was deployed as a technical adviser of the United Nations Police Arms Embargo Cell of UN mission in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from November 2005 to May 2007; and operations and planning officer of the UN mission in Pristina, Kosovo from May 2008 to March 2009. 

He underwent various local and international police and military training and courses during his UN assignment. In 2012, Metrobank Foundation recognized Banac as one of the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS). 

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.