Highway Patrol Group director becomes new PNP Chief

It's official, there's a new Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Major General Rommel Francisco Marbil as the new head of the 232,000-strong police force. This was made official during the change of command held earlier today at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Marbil replaces Officer-in-charge (OIC) Benjamin Acorda Jr. who only served for 24 hours. With it, Acorda officially retired from the force. As for the newly-appointed PNP Chief, Marbil was the head of the PNP's Directorate for Comptrollership. And even before that, PNP Chief Marbil also served as the head of the PNP-HPG.

Aside from being the head of the PNP-HPG and the PNP Directorate for Comptrollership, PNP Chief Marbil also once led the Police Regional Office-8 (AKA the Eastern Visayas regional police). Marbil graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sambisig Class of 1991 and used to be classmates with Acorda.

At 55 years old, PNP Chief Marbil is a year away from the mandatory retirement age of 56 in the force.