By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
A few days after the unceremonious axing of Gen. Nicolas Torre III as PNP chief, Malacañang rushed in front of seething opinions by way of an assurance. Press Officer Claire Castro said there was no fault in Torre and that President Marcos was eyeing another “relevant post” for him.
It came across as somewhat of a call for Torre to chill and not make a fuss. Torre, the good soldier that he is, did not resist falling off the top. He stayed silent, stayed in uniform, and stayed unretired. That choice alone spoke louder than any press statement.
Let’s rewind and see the story of Torre’s rise before his fall, and one will remember that securing presidential favor came the hard way. He had to do the jobs that other top brasses in the PNP flinched from.
As Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief, it was Torre who led the high-profile arrest of Apollo Quiboloy. And then, the arrest and turnover to the ICC of former president Rodrigo Duterte. These operations required nerve, discipline, and a willingness to absorb political buckshots.
He met them all head-on and with grace and was rightfully rewarded by the President. When he assumed the top cop post, Torre moved fast, perhaps too fast, reshuffling senior ranks without clearance and stepping on Napolcom toes.
That misstep proved costly. He was sacked without explanation, amid whispers of rifts and rivalries. Then Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. — the VVIP of those he relieved at the time — was a thoroughbred Ilocano and very much close to the Marcoses.
But for an administration under attack from all fronts — most aggressively from a Duterte bloc fronted by Vice President Sara Duterte and abetted by her accomplice, presidential sister Senator Imee Marcos — ditching Torre might have been a strategic blunder. The man who executed the most sensitive arrests was removed, while others with longer paper trails were spared.
Torre, for his part, showed no animosity. He publicly refused pity, reiterated loyalty to the President, and pointed attention instead to flood victims. Silence, service, and restraint — hardly the profile of a malcontent.
Four months after the Palace’s “we’re thinking of something” refrain, the thinking finally crystallized. Torre is now the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager. The agency welcomed him with open arms, citing his law-enforcement experience as an asset to traffic management and public safety. Chairman Romando Artes vouched for him; Vice GM Procopio Lipana bowed out with thanks. It is a consequential post — Metro Manila is where governance is felt hourly, painfully, and publicly.
So congratulations, Gen. Torre. This is your proving ground — not just to an administration that dropped you like a hot potato, but to the public. Few voices, notably, defended you online when the PNP snub came; fewer still called out the affront to the PNPA, given you are its first graduate to reach the PNP’s top post. Others were elevated, shadows and gray areas trailing them — but this is not about them.
This appointment frees up the four-star rank and restores permanence to the sitting PNP chief. As for Torre, make the MMDA work. If 2028 is in your sights, this is where worth is earned in traffic, floods, order, and results.
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