The Philippine National Police announced on Friday, April 16, a new spokesperson a month before the expected revamp within the organization due to the retirement of PNP chief Police General Debold Sinas in May. 

Police Brigadier General Ronaldo Olay assumed on the same day the position as PNP spokesperson and chief of the PNP Public Information Office.

Olay will replace outgoing PNP spokesperson General Ildebrandi Usana, who is set to retire on April 20 after serving as the PNP spokesperson and chief of the public information chief since November 2020.

From PMA Bigkis-lahi Class to PNP

Olay belonged to the same class as Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo.

With Olay’s appointment, the spokespersons of the police and the military come from the rising Philippine Military Academy Bigkis-lahi Class 1990. 

They also shared the same military class with Major General Glenn Cruz, commander of the Philippine Army Support Command (ASCOM) and Southern Police District director Police Brigadier General Eliseo Cruz. 

Olay trained for maritime law enforcement in Malaysia, supervisory criminal investigation in Thailand, and commercial crimes investigation in Singapore.

Before his appointment as the spokesperson, he served as the PNP Deputy Director for Operations and National Capital Region Police Office Deputy Regional Director for Administration (DRDA). 

In September 2020, he was appointed by then-PNP chief General Camilo Cascolan as the head of the PNP Health Service. After 3 months, Sinas ordered a revamp in key positions in the police and assigned Olay as the Deputy Director for PNP Directorate for Operations. 

After serving as the director of the Provincial Mobile Force Battalion in Batangas, he headed the Cagayan Police Provincial Office as the provincial director from 2014 to 2016. He also served in the PNP Maritime Group and Headquarters Support Service in various positions.

He worked in the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group District Office in Eastern Metro Manila and assistant chief of the CIDG Anti-Fraud and Commercial Crimes Division. – Rappler.com