Singing cops win hearts of communities

THE QUEZON Pulis Band has been performing and playing music in police gatherings
and social events since 2013. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A FORMER seminarian-turned-policeman and a group of colleagues at the Quezon provincial police have been winning people’s hearts and minds through music.

The lawmen are members of the Quezon Pulis Band, bonded by a common longing for music as they were once members of different bands during their civilian life.

“We played cover songs of local and foreign bands during police events and social gigs in the community to enliven the party,” said PO3 Jowel Ubaña, the lead guitarist.

They formed the band in 2013, with then police provincial director, Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos, providing the sound system. Each member brings his own instrument.

Peacekeeper, public servant

In February last year, the group received a copy of the lyrics of a song composed by Chief Insp. Juan Byron Leogo, who is assigned to the provincial police headquarters at Camp Nakar in Lucena City. The song, “Quezon Pulis @ Ur Serbis,” has since become a favorite whenever they perform.

Leogo, a member of Class 2004 of the Philippine National Police Academy, said his song is about the policeman’s role as a peacekeeper and public servant to the community. “I finished the composition in five minutes. I wrote the lyrics on a piece of paper,” he said.

Leogo, who took up philosophy at Mount St. Aloysius College Seminary in Gumaca, also in Quezon, in 1992, had not written a song before, but was in the seminary choir. He said he composed Quezon Pulis as a jingle to the police radio program with the same title and aired Monday to Friday over 92.7 FM in Lucena.

The chorus of the song highlighted the readiness of lawmen to serve any time of the day.

“Quezon pulis @ ur serbis,

’wag kang magdalawang isip,

tumawag ka’t, kami’y nandito lang.

Quezon pulis @ ur serbis,

sa pagtugon ay mabilis,

kahit anong oras, kahit saan.”

(Quezon police at your service,

don’t hesitate:

Call us, we are just here.

Quezon police at your service,

we are quick to respond—

anytime, anywhere.)

Ubaña said he made some minor revisions to the lyrics to make it in sync with the musical rhyme.

‘Backyard recording’

The group recorded the song not in a commercial studio but at the sala of the official quarters of Senior Supt. Ronaldo Ylagan, the current police provincial chief, in Camp Nakar.

Ubaña dubbed the process “backyard recording,” using his own multitrack home recorder. “The vocalist recorded the song inside the bathroom,” he disclosed with a laugh.

The ditty with a rock tempo is popular among policemen and listeners of the radio program. It is also being played in all police-sponsored events in the province and even in malls in Lucena City.

“We’ve been winning the hearts and minds of the people through their songs and music,” Ylagan said. “Their gigs are all for free.”

The band maintains a Facebook page to update its fans on performance schedules.

Other compositions

Another Leogo composition serves as the jingle of the police command’s campaign against drug abuse campaign “Ating Barkada Kontra Droga” (ABKD).

Two others are titled “Bayaning Walang Monumento” and “Peacemaker,” a tribute to the heroism of 44 members of the police’s Special Action Force who died in an encounter with Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, in January.

The band has other original compositions, including Christmas songs. “We’re just waiting for funds from generous sponsors. We’re ready to record the songs in an album,” Ubaña said.

The other band members are PO1 Darwin Japor, vocalist; PO2 Russel Pasno, drummer/percussionist; PO1 Paul Lincoran, bassist; PO3 Dennis Abastillas, keyboardist/vocalist; PO1 Jed Pama, rapper/vocalist; PO1 Cristina Macero, vocalist; PO1 Analou Baccus, vocalist; and Senior Insp. Sheree Ann Smile Ubaña, vocalist/band supervisor.

They practice twice a week at the provincial headquarters. “But police work is still our priority,” Ubaña stressed.