Debold Sinas

Early life and education Debold Menorias Sinas was born on May 8, 1965, in Quezon City, Philippines. However he would spend most of his childhood in Butuan in Mindanao. At the encouragement of his father, he entered the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), and graduated from the institution in 1987 as part of the Hinirang class. (Each year since 1967, the PMA assigns the graduating batch a unique honorific as verbal representation of the collective aspirations of the class. In 1987, the class were called Hinirang - which means "chosen" or "appointed ones"). Sinas told SunStar Cebu in an interview that he joined the academy due to pressure from his father – he was warned that if he did not get in, he would not be accepted back home.

Career Prior to serving as Central Visayas police chief, Sinas served in the Police Regional Office 12 (PRO-12) as Deputy Regional Director for Administration and in Camp Crame as secretary to the Directorial Staff under the Office of the Chief Directorial Staff and later, director of the PNP Crime Laboratory. He was promoted to Police Chief Superintendent in April 2017.

Key Positions Deputy Director for Administration, Police Regional Office 12 Secretary to the Directorial Staff, PNP NHQ Director, PNP Crime Laboratory Group Regional Director, Police Regional Office 7 Regional Director, NCRPO Chief, PNP

Central Visayas chief Sinas was police chief of the Philippine National Police's Police Regional Office 7 (PRO-7), which had jurisdiction over Central Visayas, for one year and four months. He worked under the office from July 2018 to October 2019. During his term at this post, Negros Oriental, a province under his jurisdiction, was the subject of intense scrutiny due to the 2017–19 Negros Island killings which led to Sinas appearing at an August 2019 Senate hearing to explain the increased number of killings in the province.

Metro Manila chief Sinas was reassigned to Metro Manila in October 2019. His appointment as chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) was announced on October 10, 2019.

By November 2019, 143 police officers from Central Visayas were reassigned to Metro Manila police office. One of the transferred personnel was assigned as the office's intelligence officer, though Sinas did not enact other leadership changes at the time.

Sinas launched a biometrics system for the NCRPO on December 2, 2019, for accurate attendance monitoring of the police office's personnel.

Philippine National Police chief

On November 9, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that Sinas would be the next chief of Philippine National Police after the retirement of PNP Chief Camilo Cascolan. Sinas' tenure began the following day.

On May 8, 2021, Sinas celebrated his 56th birthday – the mandatory retirement age of police officers in the Philippines. Sinas' 6-month watch as top cop was marred with controversies. He was succeeded by Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar as Philippine National Police chief.

Post-police career On September 11, 2021, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea announced that Sinas was appointed undersecretary of the Office of the President.

On July 4, 2022, Cebu City mayor Mike Rama appointed Sinas to the Cebu City Advisory Board. He is to specialize on peace and order concerns.

Family and personal life

Sinas' father was a military officer born in Butuan, in the Caraga region of Mindanao island. Sinas' father had died before he graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1987. He mentioned in an interview that he "pushed [himself] to really graduate [from the PMA] as a promise to [his] father".

On November 9, 2020, "NCRPO Fitness Team", a YouTube channel run by the National Capital Region Police office (NCRPO) where Sinas was stationed for almost a year in 2019–2020, uploaded a video featuring Sinas leading a four-minute workout routine to the Voltes V theme song. Although Sinas keeps his post due to the "emergency situation" concerning the pandemic, the police agency was concerned that his programs related to COVID-19 response might be disrupted. Sinas apologized for the event though he insisted that his office observed appropriate protocols.

Bypassing of Oriental Mindoro health protocol Debold Sinas tested positive for COVID-19. The PNP made the announcement on March 11, 2021 on the day of his visit to Oriental Mindoro to attend a ceremonial COVID-19 vaccination for the local police force. A statement by the Oriental Mindoro provincial government said that Sinas did not go through the proper health screening since he entered Calapan via helicopter instead of entering the city through its seaport where passengers are screened for the disease.

Harassment accusation On July 18, 2020, Sinas and other armed NCRPO officials were accused of harassment by the Delos Santos family, with the incident being filmed by a CCTV camera and the footage going viral online. The NCRPO were allegedly trying to evict the Delos Santos family from the property to build a quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients. Sinas explained that the property is owned by the PNP and Executive Master Sergeant Arnel Delos Santos was only allowed to live there temporarily with an agreement to vacate the property after his retirement in November 2018.