'Na-back to you?': Your father named a one-star general as his first Chief PNP, Torre tells Baste
Retired police general turned senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa was a one-star general when he was appointed as the first chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
This was the reminder of PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III to Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte who described the former’s appointment as the country’s top cop as “not merit-based promotion”.
In a speech, Duterte was quoted saying that Torre jumped three ranks to become the Chief PNP, which he said, is clearly not merit-based.
But Torre clapped back at Duterte, saying it was his father who did so when Dela Rosa’ was appointed.
“I just respect his decision and I respect his opinion. And rewind-rewind lang nang kaunti sa termino naman ng tatay niya kung sino ang unang Chief PNP, okay. So, ano ang ranggo ng unang Chief PNP at ano ang ranggo ko bago ako naging Chief PNP.
(Just a little rewind on who was the first Chief PNP under his father’s term. So what was the rank of his father;s Chief PNP and my rank before I became the Chief PNP?),” said Torre.
Dela Rosa was then a Chief Superintendent, now equivalent to Police Brigadier General, or a one-star rank when he was appointed by Duterte as his first Chief PNP, which is a four-star rank position.
On the other hand, Torre was a Police Major General, or a two-star general, when President Marcos named him as the 31st Chief
“So, it really goes back to him really. Seriously speaking it goes back to him, okay. The first Chief PNP of his father is a one-star who became automatic four-star,” said Torre.
“Did he ask that? Did he question that?,” he stressed.
This is not the first time that the younger Duterte criticized Torre.
Last year, he threatened to slap Torre, then director of the Police Regional Office 11, or Davao Region, for sacking a number of police commanders for allegedly manipulating crime statistics to make it appear that Davao City has low crime incidents.