MANILA, Philippines – Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has submitted his final list of contenders for Philippine National Police chief to President Duterte.
Año confirmed to The STAR that he has a shortlist of three for the next chief of the 190,000-strong police force.
The top bets are current PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, Lt. Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, deputy chief for operations, and directorial staff chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar.
Whoever is chosen by the President would succeed embattled PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde who was prompted to go on leave after he was linked to so-called “ninja cops” or erring policemen who resold the shabu seized in a raid in Mexico, Pampanga in 2013.
Albayalde was provincial director when the questionable raid was conducted.
He relinquished his post a few weeks before his official retirement on Nov. 8.
He was implicated in the controversial anti-illegal drug operation and is now being investigated by the Senate and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.