I am an "action man," as an implementer of leadership and management and Internal Security Operations – anti-terrorism and all mandatory subjects in a government school. The wisdom being that public safety personnel in the course of their duties perform not just double-tasking, but triple and quadruple tasks as investigators, traffic enforcers, social workers, patrol and emergency responders and now to withstand attacks by rebel groups such as the NPA, MILF, MNLF and ASG who seize law enforcers’ guns, take over police precincts (and even cell phones, to mention a few).
So where is this passion that ignites me focused? From serving the noble ideals of the Philippine Public Safety College, an institution established to produce professional, responsive and honest public safety servants. But we encounter things like this:
"That’s another call from the mayor. She’s very persistent in her request to relieve SPO4 Wilbert Cruz. It was really a small misunderstanding on the demolition of squatter homes but the mayor wants him out of the town. I know my men – they are loyal to their duties as police officers, notwithstanding lapses in judgment. But even though I tried hard to explain and even apologize to the mayor, she wants to hear none of it. It’s true that the mayor is always there whenever we need assistance for our operations. But is this reason enough to let a good cop down?"
As a mother, and once a politician, I understand that stigma. Can a police force function independently when they are beholden to local government units?
Our educational/training schools aim to convert a mellow fellow into a toughie egghead. School demands that these public safety students are emotionally and psychologically stable to become catalysts of change as they pursue a career to its culmination and to feed their families. Yet this happens "on the field." To quote from the Ateneo-PPSC studies:
"There is always need for money. This means you have to make diskarte from illegal logging or drug money. You recycle the documents to make it appear legal. Everybody plays blind, anyway. Where else would we get money for our operations? For gasoline? What if a member of my team needs hospitalization and medicines because he was injured in the line of duty? We cannot use our personal money. Kulang pa sa pamilya, e. And there are police officers who make diskarte for their personal needs (like take out a loan) to buy the best firearm available to match the high-tech firearms of criminals. There are still policemen out there who have no firearms at all or, if they do have, no money to buy bullets. So what you do is mangupit na lang ng pera? If you do not do it, how can you perform your tasks as a policeman?"
See? We must strengthen the resolve of the good cops and melt the negative emotions directed towards them. After all, rain or shine, even in the dead of the night, they keep the midnight oil burning – when most ambushers, burglars, crazed attackers, drug dependents and alcoholics move about, even as quarrels between spouses, murders or vindictive language or howling dogs complicate the chaotic situation. A policeman’s wife said: "When I say goodbye to my husband in the morning, I pray God sends him home to me alive."
The police, fire and jail bureaus have been criticized for their delinquent servicemen. I can’t help but answer, "They’re jewels of discipline on the campus armed with books, theses, papers, wearing the prescribed uniforms carrying one white handkerchief daily and no guns." They have wallets but with no money because their family is their first priority. During training or schooling, they just have biscuits and coffee at night while preparing for their classes for the next day. But they survive in a competitive atmosphere to excel in their calling. I can’t help but suggest a study is in order about the influence of the environment on all of us.
Being at a school administered by civilians, we work as an independent organization. The law says so, to prevent any inbreeding of concepts already within the bureaus. Therefore, we are imaginative conceptualizers, out-of-the-box planners for a dynamic curriculum with the unexpected worldwide and national threats.
Paradigm shifts are expected and brainstorming sessions are essential within the PNP’s head of offices such as the Human Resource and Doctrines Development under Police Director Jose Antonio Salvacion and Personnel with Police Chief Supt. Edgardo Acuña, and Fire Director Rogelio Asignado for the BFP.
Numerous researches and studies on the effects of public safety education and training have confirmed that officers who are educated and trained are generally better communicators, whether with citizens, in court, writing reports, or as part of an internal administrative process; they have more understanding when dealing with persons of different cultures and, and are more responsive to alternative approaches to traditional public safety practices.
We’ve needed a lot of help from friends. So, we developed links with outstanding universities nationwide. Among them are the Ateneo University School of Government on Ethical Leadership and Sanctuary Programs in Manila to help our policemen cope with the stress they get from public service. With the University of Santo Tomas, we have the master’s program in Public Administration, which can be pursued after the Officers Senior Executive Course to encourage those in charge of public safety, like this man:
"I want to serve my country. When I joined my force, I wanted to be the best. But there is a different reality that operates within the organization. So, as a new officer, you start learning the rules of the game. If you want to rise in the ranks, you should do what your superior officers do. If you don’t follow the rules of the game, you lose. If you slug it out, you are outnumbered. In the end, you have to bend, because if you do not, you will be left behind."
The PPSC System, with Police Senior Supt. Nestor Fajura and Mina Importante of the Strategic Studies of PPSC, has established the Knowledge Management Center with De La Salle University Institute of Governance through former governor Chippy Espiritu and Sec. Popoy Juico. Another program with La Salle for all bureau personnel is the master’s in Business Administration, major in Strategic Intelligence and a post-graduate diploma program in Strategic Intelligence Management.
For international linkages, Stephen Cutler of the FBI and USDEA invites OSEC graduates to attend a weeklong course in the United States. The International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok has taken in scholars from PPSC through Paul O’Friel. US Embassy Antiterrorism Assistance Program holds development courses through Mr. Charles Lutz. The British government through Colin Warburton, Australia through Jain Sinclair and Japan’s Yuyi Yan Agisawa from the Japanese Embassy make our crime investigators learn new methods in forensics, through President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s funding and PAGCOR.
Our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal wrote, "The destiny of the nations, fate of republics, depends largely on sound education." This applies too to the high school and college graduates, students with 72 units of college between the ages of 17 and 21 who desire a rigid cadet life to become future PNP, BFP and BJMP officers. What pride, to see cadet scholars dressed in dark blue-gray, learning to serve our country but – again from Ateneo-PPSC research on what ails former academy students:
"The principles you promised to uphold while in the Academy become blurred. The discipline becomes a thing of the past. Your idealism loses its attraction and your enthusiasm wanes. You start to learn your ‘lessons.’ You bend your principles, you compromise your idealism. You learn to kowtow and sugarcoat your words. Sometimes, without you knowing it, you are eaten up by ‘the system.’"
Putting our hearts into a God-centered education, I must mention reliable uniformed PNP personnel, Police Chief Supt. Samson Tucay, Police Senior Supts. Bal Tira, Cesar Binag, Melvin Mongcal, Mar Lipana, Marlene Salangad, Fire Supt. Herbert Cezar of BFP, Jail Chief Supt. Antonio Cruz and Jail Senior Supt. Rosendo Dial of BJMP. Sad to say, in one of the Ateneo interviews, hurt feelings and a plea from a policeman went like this:
"The dilemma starts with the question of who will be appointed as station commander because the law says that the municipal mayor should select from among a set of recommendees. The tradition is that you pay your courtesy call to the mayor and introduce yourself. If you get his backing, then you are well on your way to your choice assignment. But the mayor will see it as a favor, and you have to return that favor in the future in whatever way. So what can we do? We complain, yes, but if you really want to rise in the ranks, you have to follow what has traditionally been done. You have to follow what the ‘system’ dictates, even if you know it is not right."