NEW Philippine National Police Director for Intelligence Major General Jon A. Arnaldo has reiterated on his men and the rest of the police force that they must be 100 percent committed and disciplined enough to fight crimes affecting the country, both politically and economically.

“As the Director of Intelligence, I would like to convey that as men in uniform, we are entrusted to safeguard the peace and order of our country and people.

We are mandated to enforce the laws to ensure justice and harmony,” said Arnaldo, a classmate of PNP chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr. from Philippine Military Academy ‘Sambisig’ Class of 1991.

According to the official, “it is important that we strengthen our foundation as an institution and find ways to keep creating and developing higher and better standards of policing.’

Discipline, Arnaldo explained, should be maintained by any policeman on duty or off-duty and should be a concern of everybody even though nobody is looking.

“Tandaan po natin na kung wala tayong disiplina at sapat na kaalaman sa mga batas at polisiyang ating pinapatupad, hindi natin ito maisasagawa nang maayos at makatarungan,” he said.

“Bilang mga alagad ng batas, tayo at dapat na marunong magbigay-galang at rumespeto sa ating kapwa. Pahalagahan natin ang mga karapatang pantao.

Samakatuwid, kailangan nating imulat ang disiplina sa ating mga sarili. Siguraduhin natin na mangibabaw ang ating disiplina sa araw-araw nating gawain, lalung-lalo na kapag walang tumitingin at nagbabantay sa atin,” he emphasized.

The erstwhile PNP Director for Human Resource and Doctrine Development called on all his fellow policeman to “never allow ourselves to be distracted from what we are supposed to do.”

“Let us focus on our work, let us not allow our emotion or greed to control us and let us remain professional at all times. We should also understand that our positions are not permanent.

And so my fellow public servants, at this point in our careers, while we are in a position, let us be good steward and enforcers of the law and strive hard to embody what it is to be exemplary men and women in uniform for these are what our country and countrymen deserve,” he said.

Arnaldo said that in their fight against criminality, everybody must remove the elements of ‘opportunity’ from criminals or from the people to do evil as it is their shared responsibility of ensuring peace and order in the community.

He also underscored the need for everybody to remember the three elements of crime which are motive, instrument and last but not the least, opportunity.

Keeping away all of these elements are vital in keeping every home and community in the country crime-free, he added.

The 54-year old 2-star police general thanked President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos Jr., Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ C. Abalos Jr. and Gen. Acorda for giving him their trust and confidence to lead the PNP Directorate for Intelligence vice new National Capital Region Police Office director Brigadier Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr.

Arnaldo led the PNP Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development for the past 11 months. While chairman of the PNP Special Promotion and Awards Deliberation Board, he led the passage of 31 SPADB Resolutions which led in the special promotion of 25 policemen as well as the grant of special awards for 316 other deserving PNP personnel.

The official was also credited for continuing the ‘culture of frugality’ among PNP recruits and students by institutionalizing unwanted expenses and maximize the value of savings. As a result of the PNP-DHRDD initiative, one student-recruit was able to graduate and bring home more over P300,000 in savings.

The PNP-DHRDD under Arnaldo was likewise able to enhance the functionality of the Police Open Academy or POA with a 2-Factor Authentication added as a security feature and as a preventive measure against hacking or data breach in the DHRDD information system.

“This initiative aims to improve the access to learning materials through internet as an online platform in training and educating our personnel in the field.

It also facilitates the preparation of the list of personnel due for training and systematically determine and expedite the production of the Training Lineal List of or Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers thru the Learning Management System,” he explained.

The PNP-DHRDD also teamed-up, during Arnaldo’s term, with the University of the Philippines Law Center to improve the investigative skills of PNP investigators, operatives, training directors, training officers and lawyers by requiring them to undergo a well-designed seminar on laws and jurisprudence.

The DHRDD-UPLC partnership capacitated 160 uniformed personnel of the National Capital Region Police Office who physically attended the seminar at the U.P. Law Center and another 1,607 personnel from different PNP offices and units who attended the seminar via zoom.

Under the auspices of the PNP-DHRDD, a total of 2,689 policemen from the 17 PNP regional offices nationwide also attended the Clustered Traffic-Related Laws, Rules and Regulation Seminar from March 7 to 21 this year.

The seminar was designated for PNP Patrollers, Tourist Police and members of the different Police Mobile Forces to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively enforce traffic laws and regulations and help reduce the growing number of road-related accidents or incidents nationwide.

The PNP-DHRDD also partnered with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard to conduct 38 joint trainings thru the Joint AFP-PNP-PCG Training Education and Doctrine Development Cell.

The partnership benefitted 314 participants from the police force; 314 from the AFP and 7 from the PCG.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon