Outgoing NBI chief offers ‘last salute’

Outgoing National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Jaime B. Santiago confirmed Monday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has accepted his irrevocable resignation and told personnel a new director would be appointed shortly.

Addressing bureau personnel for the final time, Santiago offered a salute.

“Thank you very much. Let me salute you for this last moment,” he said.

Santiago disclosed that he was informed Monday that his resignation had been accepted and that a new director would be named “within the day, tomorrow, or within the week.”

“So within day or these days to come, an order will be released, you will have a new leader,” he told the NBI personnel.

Santiago, who declined to name his successor to avoid spreading false information, had submitted his resignation in a letter dated 15 April, making it effective “immediately upon the appointment of my reliever, in order not to disrupt the smooth flow of operations.”