Infographics by PIA
MindanaoToday.com | Normin cops reminded of their dictum
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
A top police official reminded every member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Northern Mindanao of the three words imbedded in the badge attached to their uniforms—service, honor, and justice.
“It is sad to note, some of us sometimes forget why we became police officers and what we are expected to do,” said Brigadier General Ramil Montilla, who was guest speaker in a flag-raising rites on Monday, January 22, at the Camp Lt. Vicente Alagar in Cagayan de Oro, the headquarters of the PNP in Northern Mindanao. He was given arrival honors as executive officer of the Davao City-based Area Police Command-Eastern Mindanao (APC-EM).
Montilla recalled that those who wanted to join the PNP would promise to do anything, asking the help from those of influence just be taken in, but once in the organization they tend to forget their pledge to “serve and protect” the people.
“No ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, one must act when one needs our services,” the APC-Eastern Mindanao head said and that excuses such as “off-duty” and “not the function of my unit” are unacceptable alibis of not responding when a crime is happening. Service, he said, must always be unconditional and delivered with one’s best abilities.
Montilla said every police officer must be a “role model” in communities where they are, keeping a “good name, image, and reputation” because respect is not something that is demanded but earned, admitting some are tarnishing the image of the PNP because they have lost track of the service-honor-justice dictum.
He said police officers must always make sure nobody is abused and deprived and this happens only when one is fair and just—traits that every police officer must cultivate and observe at all times, even as he thanked Brigadier General Edgardo Layug Jr., the PRO-10 regional director, for his first-ever speaking engagement and arrival honors as a police general.
On January 6, this year, the APC-EM with the Philippine Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, unearthed a cache of firearms in Barangay San Rafael, Talakag town of Bukidnon, concealed underground by communist rebels of Platoon Mercedes, Sub-Regional Committee 5, New People’s Army’s North Central Mindanao Regional Committee. This cache included six firearms and 38 magazines.
APC-Eastern Mindanao covers the administrative regions of Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga, including the coastal maritime domain along Davao Gulf, Eastern Philippine Sea, and interior waters along North Mindanao. (MT)
###
