Brig. Gen. Anthony Aberin. (Photo courtesy of DILG)
Aberin named new NCRPO chief
ERSTWHILE Police Regional Office 7 director in Central Visayas, Brigadier General Anthony A. Aberin yesterday took over as the new National Capital Region Police Office director in Metro Manila vice Major Gen. Sidney S. Hernia who has been transferred to the Area Police Command-Southern Luzon.
The new NCRPO chief will be leading the country’s premier police regional office as it keeps the metropolis peaceful ahead of the May 12, 2025, mid-term elections.
He will also be facing the tough challenge of going after illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGO operators whom Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor C. Remulla Jr. said were trying to ‘circumvent’ the total ban ordered by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. by disguising themselves as restaurants and resorts.
Aberin, a member of Philippine National Police ‘Tagapaglunsad’ Class of 1993 will earn his 2nd star with his new position. A former PNP Aviation Security Group director, Aberin has been the Central Visayas police director since March last year.
On the other hand, Maj. Gen. Hernia, a member of the Philippine Military Academy ‘Tanglaw-Diwa’ Class of 1992 will be going to the APC-Southern Luzon to replace his retiring mistah, Maj. Gen. Jonnel C. Estomo.
Hernia was the former director of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group and later head of the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management until he was named NCRPO chief last October 9.
Hernia and PNP-ACG director, Maj. Gen. Ronnie Francis M. Cariaga was placed on administrative relief and investigation following a controversial raid on a suspected scam hub in Ermita, Manila last October 29.
Both denied the accusations hurled against them and maintained that the raid was proper and authorized by a Manila court.
Cariaga, who was transferred to the APC-Northern Luzon, also ordered the administrative relief of some members of the PNP-ACG raiding team who were accused of tinkering with the CCTV cameras at their target- the Vertex Technologies located at the Century Peak Tower in Ermita.
The accusations against the two 2-star police generals were ordered investigated by PNP chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil. The top cop also ordered the 10-day administrative relief of the two officials and later prolonged it to November 22 to give time for the special investigation committee led by PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Lieutenant Gen. Michael John F. Dubria to wrap up their probe on the matter.
Prior to his relief, a hurting Maj. Gen. Hernia answered point-by-point all accusations hurled against him and his men in the aftermath of the Ermita raid and described as ‘absurd and unfounded’ the extortion charges aired against him and his 14 men by foreigners they apprehended.
The PNP leadership also stood behind the legitimacy of the October 29 raid conducted by joint NCRPO and PNP-ACG operatives on the strength of a Warrant to Search, Seize, and Examine Computer Data issued by a Manila Regional Trial Court.
PNP spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Jean S. Fajardo also showed to the press the more than P305 million in cash seized by agents of the PNP-ACG when it was still under Maj. Gen. Hernia in two separate anti-POGO raids in the country to prove they are all intact and secured in a police evidence room.
