PNP CHIEF Gen. Nicolas Torre III yesterday said he has ordered the relief of eight chiefs of police in Metro Manila for failure to comply with his program requiring a five-minute response to emergencies.
In an ambush interview, Torre said three provincial directors in the Visayas are also due to be relieved from their respective posts for the same reason.
Ordered relieved were the chiefs of police in the cities of Caloocan, Navotas, Valenzuela, Mandaluyong, Marikina, San Juan, Parañaque and Makati.
Torre said the relieved police chiefs have been asked to explain their “failure to comply with a very simple directive of the chief PNP.” Administrative charges may be filed against them if they fail to give a satisfactorily answer, he added.
Torre said the PNP recently conducted a simulation exercise (SIMEX) in Metro Manila to test the ability of police stations to respond to emergencies in five minutes or less.
The five-minute response program, he noted, was in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“He wants us to respond in five minutes and I don’t intend to fail on that,” he said. Torre first talked about the quick response program when he assumed the top PNP post on June 2.
Torre said the program can be successfully implemented, like when he was director of the Quezon City Police District a few years ago.
“I’ve already proven it can be done even in less than five minutes … if our commanders cannot keep in step, cannot toe the line, I am going to find a commander who can deliver on the promise,” he said.
Torre said more SIMEX will be conducted.
“If you cannot do it (five-minute response) during a test, how much more in an actual (emergency)? … It’s very simple. The chief PNP did it (in Quezon City). I won’t order that if I cannot do it,” he said.
Torre said police stations of other cities in Metro Manila are similar to that of Quezon City, adding the success of the five-minute response depends on police commanders.
“Now that we saw that commanders didn’t buy in, we remove them,” he said.
Last Saturday, Torre said, a similar SIMEX was conducted in the Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Negros Island regions where three provincial directors were “cautioned.”
“So we will declare these positions as vacant so we can replace them,” he said without identifying the provinces where these provincial directors are assigned.
