At A Glance
- Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Nicolas Torre III has shot down rumors of having a "plan" for 2028, which is the next election year.
Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Nicolas Torre III (Contributed photo)
Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Nicolas Torre III has shot down rumors of having a "plan" for 2028, which is the next election year.
This, after House reporters speculated that Torre's visit to Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima's office Wednesday, Aug. 27 was somehow related to his possible jump to the political arena following his relief as PNP head honcho two days ago.
"Pulis po ako, hindi ako pwedeng...(I'm a police officer, I'm not allowed to...)," an apologetic-sounding Torre said when confronted with this rumor in a chance interview.
"First and foremost kung plans ha, kung plans, unang-una wala akong pera na para sa trabahong yan. Naku po, Diyos ko (If we’re talking about plans, first of all, I don’t have the money for that kind of job. Oh, my goodness)," he said.
Torre added that such a scenario was "really so far from reality".
In his 85-day stint as PNP chief, Torre gained both fame and notoriety by leading the arrests of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his ally, pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Most recently, Torre had a tit-for-tat with acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte over a boxing challenge, wherein the former was perceived to have exposed the younger Duterte's unwillingness to engage with him.
Torre said he would still release a formal statement about his removal as PNP chief, but he couldn't give a timeline for it.
So what's his immediate next move? "I took a leave...which I'll do I think for the second time in my career," Torre said. He said it will be for approval by the chief PNP.
"I'm planning to use to maximum leave authorized. My vacation leaves, my service leave. Obviously I need the time off. I need the time off also to answer reporters," he said tongue-in-cheek.
Torre said he visited De Lima because it was her 66th birthday.