MANILA, Philippines – Gregorio Pimentel was appointed deputy director general of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte signed Pimentel’s appointment paper last Tuesday, June 4. Pimentel takes the place of Jesus Fajardo, who left the PDEA to join the Bureau of Customs as its deputy commissioner.

Previously, Pimentel was a police director who headed the Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for Intelligence. He was also the top cop in the PNP’s Ilocos Region office. 

For a time, he had served in the Davao Region, the President’s home region, as head of the PNP Highway Patrol Group.

Duterte’s ties to Pimentel go further. In January 2018, the President stood as primary sponsor when Pimentel wed singer and Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Michelle Ortega.

Ortega, before her appointment to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, had been a staff member of Malacañang’s Office of the Presidential Protocol. – Rappler.com