ANALYSIS
By dismissing General Nicolas Torre III as commander of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Marcos Jr. administration has opened itself to renewed attacks from the Duterte camp.
Torre’s ouster on August 26 shocked the nation, yet Duterte supporters—especially those in Davao—celebrated the move, circulating memes of a “crying Torre.” Their hostility toward him borders on the personal and the absurd.
During his tenure as PNP Region11 director, Torre oversaw the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy in August and, earlier, the detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte on March 13—a move that sent “Tatay?Digong” to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
While many praised Torre as a fearless defender of law and justice, he became an “enemy” in Davao. To Duterte loyalists, he was a political headache.
As regional police director, Torre exposed how Davao police units manipulated crime statistics to portray artificially low rates. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BJ1HyH4fi/
When acting Mayor Baste Duterte taunted him with a challenge to a fistfight, Torre turned the episode into a fundraising spectacle, raising 20 million for typhoon relief victims after Baste failed to appear. This episode bolstered Torre’s reputation for confronting Duterte’s rabid supporters.
Journalist and media researcher Regine Cabato notes that “Torre possesses a skill many public figures lack seizing the narrative within a Duterte-driven information ecosystem.”
Cabato, who studies disinformation in the Philippines, observes that Torre has aggressively countered the Dutertes’ misinformation machine. He uncovered an organized smear campaign by DDS vloggers who repurposed videos from Indonesia and Vietnam as evidence of rising crime in the Philippines.
According to Cabato: “There is an organized attempt to make crime in the Philippines look worse than it actually is, all toward (1) campaigning for a Duterte return to power, and (2) promoting the ideology of killing, rather than reform, as a solution for crime.”
With Torre removed for political reasons, the Marcos Jr. administration may have unleashed the Duterte disinformation army to intensify its assault on the government.
Future targets could include Philippine Coast Guard chief Jay Tarriela and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner—both outspoken defenders of the West Philippine Sea.
Cabato adds: “Accusations that Torre and others are ICC or U.S. puppets are especially hypocritical, given that these pro-Duterte networks have been linked to China.”
As the country witnesses the positive reforms introduced by Torre in the police force—and the public outcry over “nepo-babies” profiting from flood-control projects—the Marcos Jr. administration appears to be taking a misstep by sidelining Torre.
Like a chessboard that loses its rook, the government forfeits a capable guardian against disinformation and the disruptive tactics of the Dutertes.
The removal of General Nicolas Torre III isn’t just a political setback for the Marcos Jr. administration; for its supporters and commentators it also hurts the government’s claim to transparent leadership, good governance, and strong defence of the nation’s territory and sovereignty.
Torre’s brief tenure was not spotless. Civil rights groups criticised his policy of rewarding officers for the sheer number of arrests, calling the metric “fascist-like” and warning that quota-style incentives can lead to shortcuts and human rights abuses. The Commission on Human Rights noted that such incentives have historically encouraged arbitrary practices. Torre himself denied any “arrest for numbers” quota, insisting, “Wala tayong mandato na mag-quota o magkill.”
If Torre had stayed in charge, his close ties to the Marcos circle could have allowed him to steer the police toward targeting critics, activists, and political opponents.
At its core, Torre’s ouster illustrates patronage politics: a leader reshuffles senior officials to satisfy powerful allies or interest groups. The Marcos Jr. administration framed the move as a legal necessity, saying President Marcos acted after being shown facts that Torre defied a NAPOLCOM order to reverse his reassignment of senior police officers, including his successor Lt.Gen.Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr.
While the palace presents the dismissal as a compliance issue, the timing matches the country’s patron-client patterns. The “legal” rationale legitimises a political accommodation of the Duterte-aligned patronage bloc that still controls many appointments and resources.
Together, these events expose how Philippine politics balances populist appeals, patronage deals, and authoritarian moves—often at the expense of genuine democratic ideals and justice. (davaotoday.com)
