Duterte picks Camilo Cascolan as next PNP chief

President Rodrigo Duterte has chosen Police Lieutenant General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan as the next head of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Tuesday.

“He [Cascolan] is the new chief PNP. PRRD [Duterte’s initials] has just signed his appointment paper,” Año said.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea also confirmed the appointment.

Cascolan would take over the leadership of the 209,000-strong police organization from retiring PNP chief Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa on Wednesday.

Cascolan had been the second-in-command as the deputy chief for administration prior to his appointment to the PNP’s top post.

Before this, in April 2018, he was also designated as National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director. But he would only serve the coveted post for six months before being transferred to the Civil Security Group as its chief.

In January 2020, Cascolan was named as PNP's No. 2 man as deputy chief for administration.

He will only have a brief term as PNP chief as he is set to reach the mandatory age of 56 on November 10. However, it is within the President’s prerogative to extend Cascolan’s term.

In 2018, Duterte extended then-PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s term for three months. Dela Rosa, now a senator, was succeeded by Gamboa’s predecessor Oscar Albayalde in April 2018.

Cascolan, Gamboa, dela Rosa and Albayalde were all graduates of the Philippine Military Academy Sinagtala Class of 1986.

Double Barrel 

Cascolan is a co-author of the reinvigorated Oplan Double Barrel under the government’s war on drugs, which focused on high-value targets.

Then the PNP Deputy Director for Operations, Cascolan aimed to make at least 1.2 million drug personalities surrender by January 2017.

"We are hoping to catch up with the 1.8 million based on the [Dangerous Drugs Board] survey of drug personalities. If not, hopefully lumagpas kami sa 70 percent or 1.26 million sa second phase," Cascolan had said. 

As incoming NCRPO chief in 2018, he vowed to continue leading the regional police in its intensified campaign against illegal drugs and the internal cleansing against bad eggs in the force.

"Ang morale ng mga tao at internal cleansing, lalo na itong anti-drug [campaign] natin," Cascolan had said when asked about his priorities.

Bemedalled

Spending his years in the field and with administrative work, Cascolan was hailed as one of Metrobank Foundation's Outstanding Police Officer in 2015.

"Police Deputy Director General Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan’s inscrutable five-week tenure as National Capital Regional Police Office chief is still largely remembered within the force as an uplifting, invigorating period," according to Metrobank's Facebook post.

"To a police force left demoralized by near-daily flak and scrutiny amid the drug war, he was a bright, albeit brief light that boosted their morale," it said.

"He had proposed, among others, changing the number of his personnel’s beat patrol hours and assigning police officers to areas near their residences to make them more efficient and productive," it added.

Cascolan was the recipient of, among others, three Medalya ng Kadakilaan, 71 Kasanayan, 16 Papuri and four Katapatan sa Paglilingkod. —LDF, GMA News