LIEUTENANT General Dionardo B. Carlos on Friday officially took over as the country’s 27th chief of the Philippine National Police with a vow to not ‘reinvent the wheel’ and continue the noble programs by his predecessors, the last of which is Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar.

“I don’t think there is a real big need to reinvent the wheel in our organization. What we need to do is to continue the good programs we already have and enhance them further,” the member of Philippine Military Academy ‘Maringal’ Class of 1988 told the Journal Group.

Known as the ‘Powerhouse General,’ Lt. Gen. Carlos is set to get his 4th-star with the retirement of the well-loved Gen. Eleazar on his 5th birthday on Saturday, November 13.

A former PNP spokesperson, he actually became the 4th PNP spokesman and chief of the PNP Public Information Office to head the PNP after Gen. Arturo C. Lomibao of PMA Class 1972; Gen. Nicanor A. Bartolome of PMA Class 1980, and Gen. Leonardo A. Espina of PMA Class 1981—Lt. Gen. Carlos said he wants to focus on the tough task ahead.

First, he said he wants six Ps to be undertaken by the 222,000-strong police force to ensure peaceful and orderly 2022 national and local elections: Predict, Plan, Prepare, Practice and Perform Professionally.

This means a sustained PNP crackdown against loose firearms and partisan armed groups and other lawless elements that may sow trouble during the election period.

Second is the continuity of the PNP programs on anti-criminality, anti-illegal drugs and anti-corruption thru their Enhanced Managing Police Operations or EMPOs; the Double Barrel Version 2021; and their Intensified Cleanliness Policy or ICP.

Lt. Gen. Carlos assured the organization and the general public that he will continue the programs initiated by his predecessors including the ICP program of Gen. Eleazar which focused on discipline and anti-corruption and the fiscal transparency and accountability program of Gen. Archie Francisco F. Gamboa and Gen. Debold M. Sinas.

The official also said that he will continue the policy of Gen. Sinas to regularly audit their line units and the program to develop Area Police Commands which was an idea of Gen. Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan.

Lt. Gen. Carlos also said that under him, the PNP Body Mass Index or BMI program will become a ‘personal or individual responsibility’ of each and every member of the force.

“I believe that all members of the police force should be physically and mentally fit. However, this time, a cop’s BMI won’t be a hindrance to his/her schooling which is a requirement for promotion although I and my commanders will make them answerable if we see them really in bad shape,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Carlos said he will strengthen their Area Police Commands or the Directorates for Integrated Police Operations in order for them to be more focused on their counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism programs as well as in dismantling identified Private Armed Groups.

His colleagues and peers have described him as a true embodiment of a ‘powerhouse general’ who fits the job to a T before he was chosen by President Duterte to succeed Gen. Eleazar.

Carlos is an exemplary in all QUAD Policing aspect of the PNP – Field Operations, Investigation, Intelligence and Community Relations.

Retiring on May 8, 2022, Lt. Gen. Carlos is one of the very few police generals who is skilled in many aspects. He is an expert in skydiving, motorcycle riding, a rescue diver, a tactical firearms instructor and a specialist in protective service or VIP security operations.

Born in Lucena City, the official is the son of Osmundo Carlos of Tayabas, Quezon, a known marine biologist who headed the Enverga University Marine Biology Center in Padre Burgos municipality and Erlinda Bernardo, a native of Guian, Samar who worked at the Quezon Provincial Hospital.

Carlos spent his early childhood years in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and eventually moved back to Cavite City and Lucena City. He topped his elementary class at the St. Joseph College in Cavite City in 1979 and took his secondary education at the Luzonian University Foundation (now the Manuel S. Enverga University) in Lucena City where he graduated salutatorian in 1983.

The official spent a year in UP Diliman before entering the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1984 and became a proud member of PMA ‘Maringal’ Class of 1988.

He started his military career as a young Constabulary Lieutenant in his hometown when he was deployed in Camp Guillermo Nakar in Lucena City as an officer of the Regional Special Action Force 4 and later joined the famed 224th PC/INP Company in Los Baños, Laguna.

Carlos carved a name in fighting the New People’s Army in Quezon, Laguna and Mindoro island where he took part in dismantling three NPA camps in the island under the now defunct Task Force Mina de Oro and later on Task Force Crossbow.

In 1989, Carlos led his team in liberating the Sangley Naval Base in Sangley Point, Cavite from coup participants and later helped overrun rebel soldiers who occupied the Makati financial district.

He earned the Military Bravery Medal for the feat.

In 1994, he joined the elite PNP Special Action Force where he commanded the SAF’s Anti-Terrorist Unit which was created to fight organized crime groups, the NPA and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

Carlos served at the PNP-SAF from 1994 to 2000 before joining the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) when the Agency was still in its transition period.

He later returned to the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) where his cooperation with the foreign counterparts resulted in the dismantling of nine clandestine shabu laboratories and storage facilities in the country. He worked with the PDEA until 2006.

He later became the Dumaguete City police chief in Negros Oriental and led the local police in getting the plum Best City Police Station in Central Visayas in 2007 with his implementation of his Safer Cities Program which drastically reduced street crimes prevailing in the city.

His effort was recognized by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she declared Dumaguete as the safest city in the entire country.

Carlos in 2009 was recognized as one of the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service by the Metrobank Foundation Incorporated.

He later was assigned at the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) from 2010 to 2012 and won an award as the Best Senior Police Commissioned Officer for Administration in 2012 for his professional and excellent police-community relations work in Metro Manila.

Carlos also became a Quezon Police Provincial Office director in 2012; a chief of the PNP Liaison Office for Legislative Affairs in Congress in 2014 and Negros Oriental police director in 2015.

He became the PNP spokesperson and chief of the PNP Public Information Office in 2016 and was named director of the PNP Aviation Security Group in January 2018. In August 2018, Carlos was appointed as Police Regional Office 8 director in Eastern Visayas where he led his men in a massive campaign against criminality, corruption and insurgency.

He also became director of the PNP Highway Patrol Group, the PNP Directorate for Information and Communications Technology Management and the PNP Directorate for Integrated Police Operations – Southern Luzon until he was designated by Gen. Eleazar as the PNP-TCDS last May.