At Pro-6, Querol out, Cruz in

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — After weeks of speculations, the Police Regional Office-6 confirmed that the PNP national headquarters picked Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Jr. to sit at the helm of the police force in Western Visayas.

The confirmation was made Monday but PRO-6 has yet to announce the formal turn-over of command ceremony between Cruz and his predecessor, Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, Jr.

The incoming regional director, who is one of the PNP three spokespersons, is also the concurrent head of the Police Community Relations Group (PCRG).

Even earlier, Cruz, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1982, was the “favorite” among the three names on the reported short list of nominees, namely Chief Supt. Catalino Rodriguez, Querol’s classmate at the PMA Class 1981, and is now the deputy regional director for administration of PRO-10 and Chief Supt. Gil Hitosis, a member of PMA Class 81 and deputy chief of the PCRG.

Querol, on the other hand, will take over the top post at the Special Action Force (SAF), the highly-special and national mobile unit of the PNP based in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

One of the most notable accomplishments of Querol was the establishments of the barangay peace-keeping action teams (BPATS). Through his leadership, 3,618 of the 4,051 barangays in Western Visayas have organized their own BPATs.

The number of BPAT members are now pegged at 38,051 with more than 21,000 of them underwent a formal BPAT training conducted by the PNP.  - THE FREEMAN