Tourist cop now CCPO's official Cartographer

CEBU, Philippines – For having only a single cartographer who is also not a policeman, Cebu City Police chief Patrocinio Comendador came up with the first "inter-unit investigative cartography contest" among his men.

The recognized winner among the 15 policemen who joined the contest yesterday will now serve as an official cartographer or cartographic sketcher of the city police including the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 and other police units in Central Visayas if needed.

Police Officer 3 Ericson Almerez, detailed with the Tourist Action Center at the City Hall, bagged the cash prize of P3,000 and a certificate of recognition for winning the first ever contest held during the15th Police Community Relations anniversary.

Comendador, in an interview with The FREEMAN, said he suggested to the regional organizers of PCR month to hold a cartography contest instead of the previously planned painting contest.

"Ako gipa-convert. Dili man gud related sa police function ang painting whereas ang cartography contest gamit g'yud ang makadaog kay ka-kita g'yud mi sa kakuwang sa cartographer," Comendador said.

The police official said 55-year-old Elmer Herrera alias "Spider," a graduate of Fine Arts course from the University of the Philippines-Cebu in 1983 has been serving the PRO-7 and the CCPO as a cartographer ever since.

Herrera, who was among the four judges during yesterday's contest, was the one who described to the contestants-policemen the subject to be sketched by them. Almerez got the highest percent among the three categories included in the criteria for judging, his sketch has the most resemblance to the subject, who they later learned to be no less than PRO-7 director Lani-o Nerez.

PO2s Ariel Dicdican of Fuente Police Station and Maurice Caldoza won the second and third places, respectively.

After the contest, Nerez, who had no idea that he was the subject of the cartography contest, came to the event and gave a brief speech to the CCPO personnel, particularly to the contestants. 

He said that the activity will be of great help the police force in Central Visayas.

"We will continue discovering the hidden talents of our police that would help us in our day to day work especially in investigating cases," Nerez said.

Comendador said the same contest will be suggested to other police offices in the region to acquire more police cartographers. (THE FREEMAN)