"The new chief’s legacy is in his own hands."
"The new chief’s legacy is in his own hands."
Yesterday, the Philippine National Police went through another of its rituals—the formal turnover of command from a retiring officer to another officer who will be taking over the reins of the 200,000 strong PNP. But because of the pandemic, the ceremony was without the usual pomp and fanfare. Police General Camilo Cascolan, after about two months as Chief of the Philippine National Police, retired and turned over the PNP Command to Police Major General Debold Sinas, the Director of the National Capital Region Police Office. Sinas will have about six months to serve before he himself retires in May 2021.
With Gascolan gone, the reign of PMA Class of 1986 has come to an end after three of them took turns being PNP Chiefs—probably is a record for a PMA class. The Class of 1987 is now the ruling class. And with that, we would expect members of the class to occupy most if not all of the important and sensitive positions in the PNP. That in a nutshell is the meaning of the phrase ruling class.
From what I could gather, the choice was between Major General Debold Sinas and Lt General Guillermo Eleazar, who is the face of the PNP during this very difficult time in our history. It would appear that President Duterte gave more points to what Sinas did as Director of Region 7 than the good job that Eleazar is doing during this pandemic.
Being an old hand in the service, I have learned that the choice of the PNP Chief is largely a political decision. It does not mean that the one chosen to become Chief is necessarily the best. It simply means that the appointing authority probably knows the individual and feels more comfortable with him than with the other candidate. If it is any consolation to people who were not chosen, the true measure of one’s standing in the police service is how one is treated by the organization once an officer retires.
There were people who were surprised or disappointed with the appointment, especially those so-called progressive politicians and human rights advocates. This is perhaps because of the birthday celebration of Sinas in May when the whole country was on an enhanced lockdown. But they should not be because there is no such thing as career-ending offenses in the PNP. There were cases of officers being appointed as PNP Chief after committing offenses that people thought were unforgivable.
When an officer reaches the apex of his profession, he is somehow transformed into an entirely different world. This is due to the expectation that the Chief will be performing many different and sometimes new functions. He becomes a diplomat, the face of his organization and to a certain degree, his performance will reflect the kind of government that we have. As a diplomat, he must learn how to say no to powerful people without hurting their feelings. As the face of his organization, he must be able to not only look good but must be perceived by the public to be good. As they say, if the Boss looks good, everyone in the organization also looks good. But if he does not look good, then the organization together with the government also will not look good.
Much has been said that Sinas was chosen because of his anti-drug work while he was Director of Region 7 Police Office. Apparently, his anti-drug operations resulted in many suspects getting killed. His critics seem to think that this will again happen nationwide now that he is PNP Chief. It could, but we should give him a chance to prove his mettle now that he is at the helm of the PNP.
Six months is not really that long. What can he substantially do in that time? Not much. Before we know it, May 2021 is around already and another PNP Chief will have to be appointed. My best guess is that the next six months will follow the old script. It begins with announcements about reforms which is almost always about reshuffling positions. This will be followed by a quiet period which is normally the time to prepare for retirement and then a flurry of activities such as exit calls. I doubt if it is going to be any different with Sinas. He might, however, decide to spend his last six months in the service pursuing aggressive programs by undertaking multiple police operations to prove to all doubting Thomases that they are wrong about him. By these, he could somehow restore part of his credibility lost during his last birthday celebration.
In the end, his legacy will be in his hands.
