President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday expressed his support for extending the term of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil.
The President stated that there is a “strong argument” against making sudden leadership changes in the PNP, especially with the campaign period and elections approaching.
“There is a very strong argument that it would not be good for stability especially to change chief PNP in the middle of campaign period, and then approaching an election period,” Marcos said.
Marbil is set to retire on February 7, 2025, upon reaching the retirement age of 56.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla had previously mentioned that the PNP chief’s term could potentially be extended by another four months.
“Pinag-a-aralan namin but I think that is a very strong argument to keep him on at the very least until after the elections,” Marcos said, agreeing with Remulla’s statement.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) stated that the extension of the PNP chief’s term is at the discretion of the President.
“It’s an absolute discretion of the President subject to his sound wisdom,” Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia said. “May continuing authority po si President,” he added.