MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking, Philippine officials said Tuesday.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He will be replaced by another senior police general, Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. who assumed the top post Tuesday.
In a letter to Torre made public Tuesday, Bersamin informed him of his immediate removal as national police chief on orders of Marcos and directed him “to ensure the proper turnover of all matters, documents and information relative to your office.”
Torre was not immediately available for comment.
Ahead of his removal, Torre reportedly had differences with government officials over the national police chief’s decision to remove more than a dozen police officials from their posts, including Nartatez. The National Police Commission ordered Remulla to reinstate the police officials to their posts this month but that was apparently not immediately done.
