At a slum area in Sta. Rita town, some of the people were recruited by criminal gangs because they had no money for the medicines of their sick children.
The residents, according to PO3 Comet Dumangeng, became ill because of bad sanitation and lack of proper toilets in the community.
“We asked help from the local Rotary Club there, which funded the installation of toilets in the community. We also helped in building the toilets,” said the 32-year-old Dumangeng, a former teacher.
The act of kindness won the hearts of the residents, who would now regularly tip off policemen on the presence of criminals recruiting men for illegal activities.
“They became our informants because we helped them get their toilets they so badly needed,” said the mother of one.
One of her colleagues in the 32-member police station is her husband, SPO1 Ernesto Dumangeng. She is one of three women assigned to the police station.
For her, the everyday deeds in the community give her a sense of fulfillment as a police officer at the Sta. Rita police station, where she is in charge of police community relations and family, juvenile and gender sensitivity issues.
She is the only woman among 10 awardees in this year’s Country’s Outstanding Police Officers in Service (COPS) sponsored by Metrobank Foundation.
Soft spot for kids
In her 10 years of police service, Dumangeng is particularly proud of her work with the local community even outside office hours.
Aside from maintaining relations with the community for anticrime operations, she has a soft spot for young children and persons with disabilities (PWDs) struggling to have an education.
In the past two years, Dumangeng has paved the way for a partnership with the local Rotary Club so more than 20 PWDs can have education and skills training grants.
On another occasion, she and other police personnel solicited funds to buy school supplies for 300 poor students in Grade 1.
“We are extremely thankful that Metrobank Foundation recognizes our efforts to bring public service to our people,” she said.
Share cash prize
She plans to give part of her cash prize to her police station so they can buy ponchos to be used in rescue operations.
In simple ceremonies at Camp Crame in Quezon City, the awardees from the Philippine National Police were chosen for their work and projects that had strengthened police-community relations.
Other awardees were Senior Supt. Cedrick Train, deputy regional director for administration in Region 8; Senior Supt. Rodelio Jocson of the Maguindanao provincial police; Chief Insp. Byron Allatog of the La Trinidad town station in Benguet province; Chief Insp. Reynald Ariño of the 5th Special Action Battalion in Zamboanga City;
SPO1 Reynaldo Solante of the Cebu provincial police; SPO1 Rey Sarcon of Region 3; PO3 Alexander Fazon Jr. of Region 13; PO3 Michael Pontoy of the Aklan provincial police; and PO2 Ashear Ismael of the Regional Public Safety Battalion in Zamboanga City.
Mapping street crimes
Train was recognized for using information technology in mapping street crimes and other incidents, as well as for his projects in anti-illegal drugs education and spiritual alliances with “lumad” (non-Muslim indigenous Filipinos in Mindanao) and Muslims.
Jocson was cited for his work in Maguindanao, going after human traffickers, poachers and fostering peace alliances to help end “rido,” or clan wars, in the area.
As police chief of La Trinidad, Allatog enlisted the help of the community in getting leads on crimes, organizing residents into self-policing units.
Zambo siege
Ariño saw a lot of action with the Special Action Battalion in Zamboanga City during last year’s siege, securing the safety of 100,000 families held hostage in two barangays (villages).
Metrobank Foundation, Rotary Club of New Manila East and PSBank gave a cash prize of P400,000 to each of the 10 outstanding police officers.
The search began with 154 nominees all over the country, with 91 commissioned officers and 63 noncommissioned officers.
The list was trimmed to 20 finalists through a rigorous process that involved credential reviews and board interviews, after which the 10 best police officers were chosen.
Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña said these policemen’s stories and other tales of heroism need to be told more often in the news.
“What deeply impressed me is their work-family balance, how they conduct themselves at work and how they take care of their families, their communities,” Sobrepeña said.
Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, deputy chief for operations, said the good deeds of the silent majority of policemen were a morale booster to the PNP.
‘Strawberry policing’
Allatog, whose tact of involving his La Trinidad community in patrolling and monitoring crime dubbed “strawberry policing,” stressed the importance of working with the community and showing them that policemen were public servants.
“Some policemen are still under this old, mistaken notion that being a policeman is a privilege. They use it to further their interests,” he lamented.
For him, it’s the small acts of kindness that matter most to the common folk, like assisting the elderly, knowing the community’s troubles and problems, and not using fear and brawn to lord it over.
“Being a policeman is not a privilege. It is a public service. Doing small acts of goodness will not make you a lesser person. In the eyes of the people you serve, you only become a better man,” Allatog added.
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