By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
We now have a new guard at the Philippine National Police in Gen. Nicolas Torre III — a Mindanaoan son of Sulu, decorated officer, and distinguished PNPA graduate who brings with him both battle-tested mettle and the rare steadiness of an educated hand.
If just for one minute, Filipinos drown out the angry discourse surrounding former President Duterte’s handover to The Hague — and take that out of the equation — one will easily see why Torre fits the job of Chief PNP to a T.
He is not merely a name behind a headline. Torre is a proud child of Jolo, raised by a principled teacher and a cop he idolized. His roots are deeply tied to the warrior culture of the Tausūg —loyal, brave, nationalistic — defenders by nature and conviction.
That foundation matters because behind the forceful image is not just a blunt weapon but an intelligent, deliberate instrument of order. And when I say intelligent, consider this: He topped almost every police training he entered, graduating No. 4 in his batch; and holds three master’s degrees.
He has also lived the grind, wearing the hat of the field commander, and then rose from chief of police in Pampanga and Batangas to regional director in Samar. Promoted to the country’s capital, he was the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director who brought down response times and stood up to dishonest crime reporting.
From there, he became the PNP’s intelligence expert; so this man has substance, not just service stripes.
And yes, he is the first PNPA “Lakan” to head the 235,000-strong PNP. This is not just historic. It is symbolic. That the nation’s top cop is no longer purely military-trained but bred within the civilian tradition of policing is a long-overdue turning point.
What this is supposed to mean is a better balance between discipline and empathy; between order and civil rights. Torre’s lens isn’t just tactical — it’s civic.
That doesn’t make him soft. He oversaw the conceited, self-appointed “son of god” Apollo Quiboloy’s arrest and stood his ground in Davao when political pressure threatened to override his air-tight operation.
He makes tough calls without compromising the law, which is a standard we need following a regime of extrajudicial killings.
Let’s judge him by his leadership, not by the politics swirling around him. If we truly want a more professional, civilian-rooted PNP, Torre is not just the right man for the job — he is the overdue change at the gate.
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