“In the uniformed service as Torre may be belatedly learning now, one must always protect one’s interests because in today’s world one can never know what happens next”
FROM out of the blue, PGeneral Nicolas Torre has been unceremoniously relieved as the Chief of the Philippine National Police.
He was not even given the customary courtesy of formally turning over his command to his successor. What happened? What could have caused the fallout between him and PBBM?
The statement from the palace did not mention any reason for the sudden relief but the abruptness certainly surprised the whole nation.
After all, Torre went out on a limb to go after PBBM’s political enemies and tormentors. Now, just as Torre is beginning to sort of enjoy the trappings of what the position has to offer, he is gone.
This makes his stint as the C, PNP as one of the shortest if not the shortest on record of any Chief of the PNP.
And one question begging to be answered is what will they do with him since his compulsory retirement date will still be sometime in March 2027?
The other question is what really caused his relief? Maybe it was the overbearing way that he was escorted while on a staff visit in Region 2 which was not actually unusual compared to his predecessors.
The other which seems to be what the media is now circulating was his relieving his command group without prior coordination with the palace or the DILG Secretary who is the concurrent Chairman of the NAPOLCOM.
But this has happened before during the time of FPRRD when the PNP DCA who was even designated as acting PNP Chief for a while was also reassigned to Mindanao when a new Chief was appointed.
This is not to say that Torre’s replacement is not qualified because he is.
And although reliable info from Camp Crame is hard to come by, bits of information have started to filter out from some people who are close to Torre.
One is he seems to have accepted his fate and wanted the turnover to be as smooth and quick as possible.
The other which is commendable if true is that he apparently bears no rancor on anyone about what happened to him.
With all these being said, however, the Palace still owes the public an explanation as to the true reason why Torre was suddenly replaced.
If the public will not get any satisfactory answer why Torre was suddenly booted out, conspiracy theories will almost certainly proliferate as they already are, which will be detrimental to the country’s political stability.
We have to remember that the children of FPRRD have never hidden their contempt for Torre for what he did to their father and we have to assume that they are thinking that he got his just dessert.
For those who are his admirers and sympathizers, we are already hearing what they are saying, which is that after all that Torre has done to PBBM, he deserves to have been given at least a chance to explain his side.
To others, especially those who are still in the service, this episode will be a lesson on loyalty and will be talked about for many years.
Active police officers of all ranks will be asking whether it is all worth it to bet all the marbles on someone to advance in rank but suffer the same fate as Torre.
Whatever it is, let us hope the fate of Torre will not affect the dedication of every police personnel. They have to remember that one joins the service to serve the public and country.
We may never know the real reason for Torre’s abrupt relief.
Senator Ping Lacson, an old foggy, may be right that the cause of Torre’s sudden relief was his unilateral relief of his command group without coordinating with the NAPOLCOM Board.
Another plausible reason could be the infighting that goes on in the service especially among officers that Torre was not able to manage well because he wrongly assumed he was untouchable and secure in his position.
But in the uniformed service as Torre may be belatedly learning now, one must always protect one’s interests because in today’s world one can never know what happens next.
Be prepared always as they say. Let’s wish him well.
