Marcos names Isagani Nerez as new PDEA chief

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has appointed Isagani Nerez as the new chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

This was confirmed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to Palace reporters on Tuesday.

Nerez replaced Moro Virgilio Lazo as PDEA head. Lazo, a retired police general, was appointed to the PDEA post in October 2022, replacing Wilkins Villanueva.

Nerez is a member of Philippine Military Academy Maharlika Class of 1984. and retired from the Philippine National Police (PNP) with the rank of police major general. He hails from Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.

Also a lawyer by profession, Nerez previously served in the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER), Directorate for Integrated Police Operations in Eastern Mindanao, Special Action Force (SAF), Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), and the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group.

In 2022, Marcos named Nerez as undersecretary for police affairs at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Military Affairs. — VDV/RSJ, GMA Integrated News