Respect

My colleague in the PNP Press Corps Ed Montalvan hit the nail in the head when he said this of outgoing PNP Police Regional Office 10 Regional Director Chief Supt. Florante "Egay" Baguio: he is the only one among a long line of police generals who gave us in media our due as a co-equals and partners in the crusade against crime.

Hardly a week goes by without us getting an invitation from PIO Sr. Supt. Rolly de la Vega for a presscon where a fugitive from the Top 10 Most Wanted Persons in Region 10 would be presented without much fanfare by RD Egay, together with the apprehending team, usually at his office early in the morning.

That alone tells you already a lot about the man: he is not a hogger of the limelight, because he gives credit to his men when they perform their duties well and gives them the proper recognition whenever they have done exceedingly well. Hardly do the visits of the Chief PNP or other high-ranking police officials go by without many of the police officers and personnel from PRO-10 being recognized for their accomplishments.

Any student of the management of men can tell you that is the proper way to motivate your men with the result that the men and women of PRO-10 must be among the top three regional commands from around the country with the highest morale.

Also, lest these media conferences be misunderstood as acts of self-aggrandizement, they are usually over in 30 minutes and there's no conscious effort (unlike in some other regional or local offices we know of) to delay the proceedings just because the TV crew or the beat reporter from national broadcast networks have not yet arrived. As local media, we appreciate this unbiased treatment of all media as co-equals, regardless of our affiliations.

Most of all, RD Egay has given us over the duration of his brief tenure as chief of PRO-10 the one thing that I know most media professionals crave for but rarely get from their news sources: respect. In Egay's case, he has given us that spelled out in capital letters as in R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

We are not treated as murag manglilimos nga ang tuyo sa pag-interview mao ra ang pangwarta. No matter what our media affiliation is, or the quality of our reportage be, we are treated equally: the same coffee, the same briefing information, the same time is alloted to each of us.

Which is more than we can say of many of our local and regional officials who set appointments with us, then make us wait for an hour or so beyond our appointed time while they attend to other business, like we are merely a necessary evil they have to do, without a thought that we also have other beats to cover, other persons to interview and deadlines to beat. You could say RD Egay was considerate and aware of our plight and routines.

RD Egay respected us in the fourth estate as co-equals in the crusade against crime, as he was wont to stress to those who faithfully answered his call for a media conference the reason for the frequent press briefings: to inform the people that their police was working to maintain peace and order, that crime fighting and peace keeping were a community concern and not merely the work of the police, and not the least, that media was the best information multiplier he knew of, hence the constant appeal for their assistance in disseminating information in behalf of the crusade against crime fighting.

As he turns over the reigns Friday of PRO-X to incoming RD Chief Supt. Dick Capuyan, allow me to express our thanks in behalf of all media to RD Egay for a job well done, and for walking the talk in good media and community relations. We hope RD Dick continues your tradition, for truly it is a great tradition worth emulating and building upon.

Happy Birthday to RD Egay from all of us and as my compoblanos in Zamboanga would say: Hasta la Vista y Vaya con Dios para siempre!