CEBU, Philippines — If transition will be smooth, the deputy chief of the Waterfront Police Station in Cebu City will be one of the new police aides of President Rodrigo Duterte.
No less than Cebu City Police Director Royina Garma handpicked Police Lieutenant Maria Fatima Lorraine Tejada for the post.
Tejada, 25, also heads the Human Resources Development Division of CCPO.
Tejada told The Freeman that she went to Manila to meet with the President last Monday, three days after Garma informed her of the recommendation.
She said she was flattered to meet Duterte. The President reportedly asked her if she is a rider to which she replied she graduated from a Motorcycle Riding Course.
A native of Lanao del Norte, Tejada is a member of the Philippine National Police Academy Masundayaw Class of 2016.
She joined the academy upon the advice of her uncles who are police officers.
After graduation, her first assignment was being a patrol supervisor at the Police Regional Office - 4A in Quezon Province.
In 2017, she was assigned as police escort for the wife of former Police Regional Office-7 Director Jose Mario Espino.
She then moved to Siquijor Island as chief of the police station in the town of Enrique Villanueva where she led efforts for a zero crime rate.
She joined the Cebu City Police Office in January this year.
Malacañang is set to release a formal order for Tejada’s assignment after the elections. — JMO (FREEMAN)