"These two men will save the day for two embattled institutions."
"These two men will save the day for two embattled institutions."
We welcome in this corner President Duterte’s designation of Police Lt. Gen. Camilo “Pikoy” Cascolan as Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP) and Atty. Dante Gierran as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
Manong Digong could certainly use help from two knights in shining armor to help save the day for PNP and PhilHealth.
General Cascolan yesterday assumed as Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP), duly appointed by the President two days before the retirement of P/General Archie Gamboa.
I can tell that Cascolan’s designation to the PNP top post is something the President wished he did in April 2018 upon the retirement of former PNP chief turned-senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.
The PNP would have been spared of the darkest days in the organization’s history in connection with the “Ninja Cops” scandal that undermined the government's anti-drugs war itself.
Cascolan is one of the bright stars of the famed Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sinagtala” Class of 1986 that produced Dela Rosa and former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde.
He is known as Dela Rosa’s co-author of the Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double-Barrel, main components of the government’s war on anti-illegal drugs that rid the streets of thousands of cold-blooded drug dealers.
Of late, Cascolan headed the administrative support to COVID-19 Operations Task Force—a mission to save lives.
An accomplished police officer known as a quiet hard worker, General Cascolan does not have to prove anything in two months except to bring to a meaningful conclusion a police career of 34 years.
He vowed to spend each day as Chief PNP to lead the 200,000-strong national police force as the country’s vanguards hand in hand with the health workers in the frontline in the war against the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, there will be no letup in the anti-illegal drugs drive, as drug traffickers have continued to ply their illicit trade amid the public health crisis.
Cascolan, a veteran of combat action against insurgents in Mindanao, will also see to it that anti-terrorism measures are implemented.
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Atty. Gierran retired last February 22, upon reaching the age of 65, after serving as Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) since 2016.
He is just happy to get out of quarantine after six months and to accede to the request of Manong Digong.
His impeccable record of four years with the NBI, his hands-on style of management and investigation acumen more than qualify him, a self-made lawyer-CPA, to the top post at PhilHealth.
I cannot agree more that Gierran has more than what it takes to bring about drastic reforms in PhilHealth, which has served as a “milking cow” of some of the shameless thieves in the government.
Note that Gierran had a hand in the investigation and expose of the WellMed scandal on “ghost dialysis” involving PhilHealth officials and dialysis clinics.
With Gierran’s detective skills and the findings in the Senate and House probes, the PhilHealth mafia is in real trouble now, facing hundreds of criminal and administrative cases.
I expect that heads at PhilHealth will definitely roll in the days to come.