PNP chief, Gen. Debold Sinas (File photo)
MANILA – Outgoing Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Debold Sinas on Thursday urged all members of the police force to rally behind his successor, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar.
“I urge you to give my classmate, Police Lt. Gen Guillermo Lorenzo T Eleazar, the same 100 percent support you gave during the past six months under my watch,” he added.
Sinas will retire from the service on Saturday upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56. He will formally relinquish the PNP's top post to Eleazar in a change of command ceremony in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Friday.
“Every Chief PNP appointed to the post carries with him the full trust and confidence of the President of the Republic of the Philippines, therefore, he deserves the unqualified support of all the officers and personnel under his command,” Sinas said.
Sinas, meanwhile, believed he was able to do his best to serve the country during his stint as PNP chief.
“It has been probably the longest six months tour of duty we have served together to accomplish our mission for the Filipino people. And I honestly believe we have been able to deliver more than what we promised to the President and the Filipino people, because everyone stood by me, from the ranking officers in the headquarters to the last beat patroller in the streets,” he added.
Both Sinas and Eleazar are members of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1987.
Eleazar graduated cum laude as Top 4 of the class.
He gained popularity in 2016 when he took the helm of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) where he waged relentless anti-crime and anti-illegal drug operations that led to the arrest of notorious street criminals; dismantling of notorious robbery-holdup groups; and arrest and neutralization of drug targets including rogue police personnel involved in crime.
Under his leadership, QCPD was recognized in a survey commissioned by the National Police Commission as the “most trusted Police District in NCRPO”. He was eventually promoted as regional director of the Police Regional Office 4A (Calabarzon) and the National Capital Region Police Office.
In 2019, he rose to the PNP Command Group after being named chief of the directorial staff, the fourth top post in the police force.
He was later elevated to the position of deputy chief for operations where he concurrently headed the Joint Task Force Covid Shield, the law enforcement and public safety arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
He was then promoted as deputy chief for administration in September 2020. (with Priam Nepomuceno/PNA)
