Año to serve as undersecretary or special assistant before becoming DILG chief in a year

President Rodrigo Duterte said that retired General Eduardo Año would still be his secretary of the interior but not until a year after his retirement on Thursday.

Acknowledging the prohibition on police or military officials from being appointed secretary of the interior within a year after their retirement, Duterte said Año could be a special assistant to the President or an undersecretary, "whichever the law would allow."

"Either he takes the title of Special Assistant to the President or the Undersecretary, whichever is tenable legally. And he will now supervise the Philippine National Police, together with General Lito Cuy," he said, referring to Department of the Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Undersecretary Catalino Cuy. Duterte said, in jest, that Año could start tomorrow.

Section 8 of Republic Act No. 6975—An Act Establishing the Philippine National Police Under a Reorganized Department of the Interior and Local Government, and For Other Purposes—prohibits any retired police or military officer from being appointed as interior within a year after retirement.

“The head of the Department, hereinafter referred to as the Secretary, shall also be the ex-officio Chairman of the National Police Commission and shall be appointed by the President subject to confirmation of the Commission on Appointments. No retired or resigned military officer or police official may be appointed as Secretary within one (1) year from the date of his retirement or resignation,” it read.

Former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno was fired during a Cabinet meeting in April over allegations of corruption. —NB, GMA News