Beyond Serve and Protect
Mike Banos
October 11, 2009
The Sunday edition of one of the nation´s broadsheets tells of the heroic story of a police chief in San Jacinto, Pangasinan who rescued 130 people with the help of two teenaged boys and three inflatable beds from the wrath of typhoon "Pepeng".
Recalling a story he read earlier about how inflatable beds helped save lives at the height of typhoon Onday last month, Inspector Ryan Manongo grabbed an inflatable bed from his quarters and ventured into the rising floodwaters infront of his office with two teenage boy similarly equipped.
Together, the three ferried children, women and elderly victims to a building behind the police station, all 130 of them.
Manongo and the two boys heroism recalled the earlier sacrifice of policemen from Marikina at the height of typhoon "Ondoy".
Chief Supt. Nick Bartolome, head of the PNP community relations group, told media how almost the entire police force of Marikina was unable to look after their own families because of their continued assignment with relief, rescue and clean-up operations in typhoon hit areas.
"Policemen are also victims themselves, but they are not minding their problems at this time. They are concentrating on rescue, relief, and clean-up operations," Bartolome, head of the PNP community relations group, said. "Also, they have cancelled leaves so they cannot attend to their problems."
In Quezon City, a thousand policemen "armed" with shovels, rakes and brooms led the cleanup of flood-devastated areas like Tatalon, Bagong Silangan and the corner of E. Rodriguez and Araneta avenues.
Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno, who is also concurrently National Police Commission (Napolcom) chairman, would surely be proud of how policemen responded to the string of disasters under his watch.
Since assuming the mantle of leadership in the oft-maligned PNP, Puno has engaged in a running battle with government bureaucrats to increase the DILG´s budget to enable the PNP to acquire more patrol cars, guns and other equipment; build more police stations; refurbish their vehicles and patrol boats; raise the salaries of police personnel; and provide retirees with increased pension benefits.
Police stations have been refurbished; many police stations now boast of spanking new patrol cars and motorcycles, and even carry Blackberries and GPS systems to track down violators of the law.
On top of the material assets, Puno has also led a moral transformation program as Napolcom chair to uplift the spiritual well-being of police personnel who put their lives on the line on an almost daily basis as "protectors of the people," in keeping with the PNP mantra "to serve and protect."
This rising tide of selflessness among lawmen was already evident even before the successive calamities brought by typhoons Ondoy and Peping brought out the best from the ranks of the blue and gray.
This can be gleaned from the many acts of heroism and gallantry of the men in uniform who put their lives on the line and almost lost them in the line of duty who were acknowledged during the Napolcom´s 43rd foundation anniversary.
The Napolcom awardees included:
P/SInsp. Elmer Santiago who on the evening of July 25, 2009 in Hermosa, Bataan, together with two other policemen, valiantly fought a group of armed communist insurgents belonging to the Marxista Leninista Partido ng Pilipinas/Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan. The encounter led to the death of one of the rebel leaders and the arrest of another member of the communist group.
P/C Insp. Gilberto Tuzon, for his exceptional courage as the ground commander of the police teams dispatched to Mindanao to pursue MILF rebels in Cotabato.
PO3 Rommel Salcedo, for his conspicuous act of gallantry when he shot it out with members of a crime group believed to be responsible for a series of bank robberies in Metro Manila. Salcedo mortally wounded a member of the gang during one of their attempts to rob a UCPB branch office in Barangay Poblacion in Makati City.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who delivered the keynote speech during the Napolcom anniversary celebration, credited Puno with the "vision and energy" to help transform the Napolcom into a "well-structured, well-directed" agency which controls and supervises the PNP.
Recalling a story he read earlier about how inflatable beds helped save lives at the height of typhoon Onday last month, Inspector Ryan Manongo grabbed an inflatable bed from his quarters and ventured into the rising floodwaters infront of his office with two teenage boy similarly equipped.
Together, the three ferried children, women and elderly victims to a building behind the police station, all 130 of them.
Manongo and the two boys heroism recalled the earlier sacrifice of policemen from Marikina at the height of typhoon "Ondoy".
Chief Supt. Nick Bartolome, head of the PNP community relations group, told media how almost the entire police force of Marikina was unable to look after their own families because of their continued assignment with relief, rescue and clean-up operations in typhoon hit areas.
"Policemen are also victims themselves, but they are not minding their problems at this time. They are concentrating on rescue, relief, and clean-up operations," Bartolome, head of the PNP community relations group, said. "Also, they have cancelled leaves so they cannot attend to their problems."
In Quezon City, a thousand policemen "armed" with shovels, rakes and brooms led the cleanup of flood-devastated areas like Tatalon, Bagong Silangan and the corner of E. Rodriguez and Araneta avenues.
Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno, who is also concurrently National Police Commission (Napolcom) chairman, would surely be proud of how policemen responded to the string of disasters under his watch.
Since assuming the mantle of leadership in the oft-maligned PNP, Puno has engaged in a running battle with government bureaucrats to increase the DILG´s budget to enable the PNP to acquire more patrol cars, guns and other equipment; build more police stations; refurbish their vehicles and patrol boats; raise the salaries of police personnel; and provide retirees with increased pension benefits.
Police stations have been refurbished; many police stations now boast of spanking new patrol cars and motorcycles, and even carry Blackberries and GPS systems to track down violators of the law.
On top of the material assets, Puno has also led a moral transformation program as Napolcom chair to uplift the spiritual well-being of police personnel who put their lives on the line on an almost daily basis as "protectors of the people," in keeping with the PNP mantra "to serve and protect."
This rising tide of selflessness among lawmen was already evident even before the successive calamities brought by typhoons Ondoy and Peping brought out the best from the ranks of the blue and gray.
This can be gleaned from the many acts of heroism and gallantry of the men in uniform who put their lives on the line and almost lost them in the line of duty who were acknowledged during the Napolcom´s 43rd foundation anniversary.
The Napolcom awardees included:
P/SInsp. Elmer Santiago who on the evening of July 25, 2009 in Hermosa, Bataan, together with two other policemen, valiantly fought a group of armed communist insurgents belonging to the Marxista Leninista Partido ng Pilipinas/Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan. The encounter led to the death of one of the rebel leaders and the arrest of another member of the communist group.
P/C Insp. Gilberto Tuzon, for his exceptional courage as the ground commander of the police teams dispatched to Mindanao to pursue MILF rebels in Cotabato.
PO3 Rommel Salcedo, for his conspicuous act of gallantry when he shot it out with members of a crime group believed to be responsible for a series of bank robberies in Metro Manila. Salcedo mortally wounded a member of the gang during one of their attempts to rob a UCPB branch office in Barangay Poblacion in Makati City.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who delivered the keynote speech during the Napolcom anniversary celebration, credited Puno with the "vision and energy" to help transform the Napolcom into a "well-structured, well-directed" agency which controls and supervises the PNP.
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