He used to scavenge for food in the slums and swam for coins as a child, but now, SPO2 Egmedio B. Felisan Jr. has indeed come a long way.
With his wife and children at his side, Felisan received the Most Outstanding Model PNP family award at Camp Crame last Monday, besting 48 other policemen from around the country.
“Wa ko magdahum nga akoy mapili kay mga maayo sad sila (I didn’t expect to win because the others were just as good),” said Felisan, who’s assigned at the Police Community Relations department of the Cebu City Police Office.
No stranger to awards Felisan was cited as one of Cebu City’s most outstanding policemen by the Kiwanis Club of Cebu in 2008.
His work with streetchildren is an extension of his personal experience growing up in Cebu City’s slums in the 70s.
Felisan recalled scavenging for food, selling iced water and diving for coins at the pier area thrown by arriving passengers to support himself.
In one instance, he was caught stealing fish viand and taken to the Community Scouts Youth Guidance Center. It was at the center that Felisan decided to become a policeman.
Through study and hard work, he passed the Philippine Education Placement Test and put himself through college.
Felisan graduated with an Industrial Technology degree, major in Applied Electronics at the Cebu State College of Science and Technology- Abellana College of Arts and Trade.
As a policeman, he served as liaison officer and houseparent at the Community Youth Guidance Center where he was called “Kuya Bill.”
Felisan, his wife Myrna and their three children are active in church. They agreed to use part of his P20,000 cash award to help repair their community chapel.
Last year, Insp. Rogelio Ruiz of the Cebu City Police Office won third prize in the same nationwide contest. Ruiz heads the Cebu City police’s records section.
The annual search for the Model PNP Families started last year as a project of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the PNP and the National Crime Prevention Week Technical Working Committee.