Young PNP scholar tops her class

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union , Philippines   â€“ A Grade 1 pupil from the coastal village of Catbangen here who was a recipient of a scholarship grant from the city police station was named first honor of her class.

Rhenruff Samoy, 8, vowed to study hard to maintain her grades at the Catbangen Central School.

“Education is one of the best antidotes to poverty and criminality. The city police has this scholarship for elementary and high school students as an innovative way of fighting or preventing crime as well as gaining the people’s trust in and respect for the police,” said Superintendent Julius Suriben, city police chief.

Suriben said Rhenruff is among the Batang Iskolar ni Manong Polis or Project BIMPo who receives school supplies and a weekly allowance of P200 that comes from the voluntary contributions of policemen in the city.

For topping her class this year, the city police gave her a new pair of shoes and a new dress as bonus.

Rhenruff and her parents expressed their heartfelt thanks to Suriben and his personnel for the scholarship and guidance they are providing. Rhenruff said she would like to become a police officer someday.

Suriben said Project BIMPo is aimed at removing the public’s fear of policemen and enhance the relationship between the police and the community.

Suriben said they plan to expand Project BIMPo to include more poor students. To expand the pool of benefactors, BIMPo alkansiyas (piggy banks) are given out to individuals, organizations and business establishments.

A Facebook fan, Lara Geraldine Bacer, a government employee, has signified her intention to be a part of the project by helping in the distribution of BIMPo alkansiyas among her friends and co-employees during pay day.

She found out about the project when “Balitang Amianan” of GMA-7 posted Rhenruff’s story on their Facebook account. The post has earned more than a hundred likes and gained positive comments and praises from netizens.

“This is a very noble project which we want to sustain. This would help attack one of the root causes of crime, which is poverty. By giving more educational opportunities to the less fortunate, we are helping the government alleviate poverty, which in effect would be decreasing the possibility of crime occurrence and opening windows of opportunity for our fellowmen who may be our future leaders, or even one of our best police men and women in the next generation,” Suriben said.

Project BIMPo is supported by the city government here led by Mayor Pablo Ortega.